


Moana - New Shores

by NilasTheFennec



Category: Moana - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Bloody Fights, Drama, F/M, Family Feels, Feels, Fluff, Love, Maui you jerk!, Other, Plotty, Swearing, a huge plot, evtl a little smut, mostly fluff and feels, occasionly breaking the 4th wall
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 12:07:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 111,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10570986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NilasTheFennec/pseuds/NilasTheFennec
Summary: ::::::::::::UPDATE:::::::::::There's an audio play sneak peak of chapter 1 on youtube.check it out!.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTAmZsTy47g:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::I love the story, the characters,the world, the culture,the plot and I amdevouring the sound trackEvery Fluffing Day!The worst part isI ship Moana and Maui so hard though I knowI probably shouldn't.Moana was created to be an independent young womanwho didn't need a love interest to achiev her goals.So ...After I read the cutest ff of skysdrathik (http://skydrathik.deviantart.com/)I started having this plot in my head.Sorry folks. I need to make them kiss.





	1. Kaumaha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actually I had a full page more, but threw it away, because it was very .. dumb ... 
> 
> When I started anew, I thought, "How 'bout I 'try' beginning at the end. .. yeah .. that'll work." 
> 
> Then I thought it might be cool to name this chapter 
> 
> "Kaumaha"  
> it is translated to 'feeling sad' or 'Sorrow'  
> So this is kind of the answer to a very important question in this chapter. :)

 

 

The moment the tropical flowers and palms of Motunui had come back to life had been a good sign for Sina, wife of Chief Tui. She had spent -not wasted- countless days gazing past the shore, to the horizon, waiting for her brave daughter's return.  
  
Oh, how she longed to hold her child in her arms again, from her very departure on.  
Day after day she had sat in fear, distracted from her tasks by sorrow. Had it been wrong to let her go, even supporting her fast decision to go and fix the world?  
  
Tui had been furious -but also as scared for his child as she- when he had found out Moana, the future chief of Motonui, had left the island. Against his wishes. Again.  
For one month she had felt a sneaky rush of blame in his gaze whenever Moana’s name was spoken.  
Despite a small voice in her mind agreeing with him, she couldn't suppress the deep trust and faith she felt for her daughter.

Sina knew her.  
She had carried her into this world, had watched her grow up and grow strong, responsible, courageous and smart.  
Also, she believed the old stories Tala had told them before her passing. The ocean had chosen her, just like it had several times for generations.

 _'And it had chosen wisely.'_ , Sina thought with flimmering chest, as the grey, ashlike petal in her hands pulsed with new life and regained its bright colors. The mother filled her trembling lungs and let out a small, relieved choke and her eyes glittered with tears. "Tui!", Sina managed to shout in excitement over to the huts.  
"Tui! Come here! Quick!"  
Her tone was rare these days, so it didn't take long for the chief to hurry to Sina’s side. "What's wrong?!"  
"Look!", Sina said in a hushed tone, pointing to the hegde, which threw off the last bit of ash and shadow.

Right at this moment, the high tone of a signal shell filled the air. The chieftain and his wife looked up, as the first curious ones of their people ran toward the shore. The wind carried the cry of an eagle over from the ocean. Or was it the voice of ... ?

"Moana!"

They didn't think, as their legs carried them flying down the plainy earth into the sand of the beach.  
Tears blurring Sina’s sight, as a bright sunbeam was shortly interrupted by the wing of a big bird circling in the sky.

There, over the calm waves of the lagoon rushed the strong canoe, the sun in the back of the sail, and a small, gentle figure was tuggin at the ropes.

"Mom! Dad!", her clear voice reached for them.  
The girl -no, the brave venturer- waited until her draft hit the sand with speed and she flung herself right into her parents’ arms.  
Meanwhile the village joined them with happy faces, while keeping their respectful distance to the rejoined family.  
Tearful words were exchanged, overlapping.

"Oh, my child!"  
"Moana, you're back!"  
"Were you hurt!?"  
"Oh, I missed you so much!"  
"Don't you ever-!"

The young woman took another short look at her parents, she had missed them for what felt like ages, as her burning frustration of everything she had lived through bursted out into a cry.  
"I love you both!" And buried herself in their arms.

The small family took their time, crying and laughing all the same, holding each other tight until they rose and the whole village joined in welcoming the strayed girl back home. Some moments passed until Moana could finally bring the crowd to calm down and she cleared her throat before she spoke. Her voice still somewhat shaky.

"I-I know you have questions. A lot.", her clear voice made her way through the crowd and she looked around.  
"First let me answer the most important of all... Yes. Te Fiti's heart was restored! We are safe!"

She didn't even finish her speech, that the crowd burst out into cheering, strong arms lifted the girl into the air and carried her like a gift from the gods into the village.

All the while, in the crown of a far away palm, a big bird sat and watched the reunion in bittersweet awe. ...

\---------------------------------

Moana had wanted to tell them everything at once, as long as her memories had been still fresh. The whole village had gathered many times around her, inside and outside the flat, to listen to the unbelievable stories she had to tell.

"Moana, where's Maui now?", had been asked by her people.

_Indeed, where?_

Moana had stayed silent in wonder.  
The last time she had seem him, he was flying in his eagle form over her head towards the island  
and then she had lost her sight on him. She kind of had been distracted by the hundreds of people swarming towards her.

‘ _He didn't fly off without saying goodbye, did he?’_ , she had feared.  
Moana had shaken her head. She had known him well enough to know he wouldn't have done that. ...  
_Would he?_

"I'm sure he's not far.", she had answered with a small grin, trying to reassure herself.  
"And if not, he's probably looking for some trouble to kill the time."

Not a day had ended without the children of the village wanting to hear more stories about Moana’s adventures with Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea,  _yadda-yadda. ..._

It had been hard to answer all their questions, as well as paying attention toward the last two hours of every gathering. With every sundown she had used to search the sky in hope to spot her friends wingspan somewhere. Moana had hoped Maui would be polite enough to introduce himself to her parents, or at least attend her ceremony. After all he had trapped her in a cave, thrown her into the ocean -four times- peed on her hand, abandoned her on the ocean. ...

_Then had come back, fought Te Kā until his hook was destroyed -the one thing giving him the freedom he loved. For the world he had created._

Anyways. He had spent long months at her side, guided her home!  
_‘Okay’_ , had she thought, ‘ _Te Fiti had gifted him a new hook back then_  -the face he had made lured a short smile on her lips- _why wouldn't he use it to be Maui again?’_

Still she didn't understand.  
Why would he leave her so sudden without saying goodbye?  
Days of hoping he might show himself again had become weeks without a word.  
Months had passed since her return.  
Months of change, hope, education, progress, waiting ...

Moana, chief of Motunui sighed angrily and shoved the nagging memories aside.Trying to focus on the stars above infront of her, not to lose course of her venturing flotilla.  
One gaze over her shoulder assured her where they had been -Maui's constellation behind them was a nightly reminder of why she couldn't stop thinking about him. The young chief wrinkled her nose.  
  
No, she'd stay stubborn! ‘ _Focus on your way.’_  She had her life, her purpose!  
Around her people, where she belonged! She didn't need Maui to be who she was! ‘ _Focus!’_

Moana didn't realize that the small disappointements inside her had turned bitter in the past year.  
_‘Better to be angry than to miss this ...’_  
" ... stupid, arrogant, overzealous, selfish jerk of a Pumpous Puffball... ", she muttered.

"I hope you are not talking about me.", the soothing voice of her mother calmed her down a bit, as she stepped next to her.  
"What? ... No, of course not!", she stated and didn't say anything else, she started to measure the stars again.

She felt her mother’s asking eyes on her.  
Though she didn't want to talk about it, she had a hard time resisting a mother’s gaze.

"It's nothing.", she said instead.  
"Moana-", Sina started, but was quickly interrupted.  
"Really!", this time she even tried to reasure her with a well faked smile.  
The young woman gestured with her arms, backing away, trying to end the conversation.  
" It's just a .. teeny-tiny thing I have to solve myself. ... Nothing to worry about."

It's not like she wasn't glad her mother looked out for her. She just ...  
She was chief now! She couldn't let something as small as this affect her actions!  
She had to draw a line, for the good of her people. Then used the first silence between them to leave,  
but her mother wouldn't let her.

"Then why have you grown so quiet?", Sina asked, still standing where Moana wanted to leave her.  
But she didn't. When the young chief turned around, she had wide eyes to let her mom know she was right.

"Moana ...", Sina came closer and put a hand on her daughters shoulder. "Your father, me, the elders...  
We all on this canoe can see something is bothering you."

Moana was about to lower her head, but Sina put her fingertips under her chin, keeping it up and looked into her eyes.  
"What is small, but noticed by everyone?"

Moana frowned confused, not sure if it was a rethorical question or if Sina awaited an answer.  
"Uh .. Wrinkles?"  
Sina blinked.

"...", Sina drew breath to correct her, but when she further thought about it.  
" Well ... yes, close enough." she let out a small giggle. Moana joined her with some awkward laughter,  
not sure why though. Silence after that, Moana looked at her and huffed.

After Moana had given in to her mother’s caring words and told her about her anger and the frustration.  
Why she couldn't just let it go. Why had she been so sad? Why was she so angry  _now_?

"It's not like he promised to visit or something ... ", she ended her speech. "I just ... I thought after everything he would be present at my ceremony! ... or the first time we left the island! .. Or, or - Urgh!" Moana threw her fists in the air and let herself fall back on her bottom, taking a deep breath. She crossed her arms, as her eyes turned bitter again. " .. or at least say goodbye to me."

Sina sat down next to her. Most of the time she had listened to her little, big problem and had asked only a few questions. Sina couldn't answer all of her questions. Not all ... But one. They stayed silent for some time, until Sina raised her gentle voice.

"... Maui, demigod of the wind and sea, trickster, shapeshifter, -"  
"Mom, don't .."  
".. struck from the sky, imprisoned for 1000 years in lonely exile... freed by a brave young heart?", Sina closed.  
"Demigod or not... I don't think he'd take the first friend in 1000 years for granted."  
Moana looked at her with a thankful smile, after she considered her words quietly.  
"Thanks, mom."  
Maybe she was right about him?

 Sina left shortly after she wished her daughter good night and returned down to her mat, where most of the people off shift slept. Moana went quiet again.  
Talking to her mother had indeed taken most of her bad mood away. But everything wasn't alright. Still she had to figure out the ball of stirring emotions inside her, whenever she thought about Maui.  
  
One thing was sure, she was angry, disappointed, sad and ... Something else.  _Something ... Platonic! Yes!_  
Even though, she remembered a voice from deep down had a thing for his looks and it was something she hadn't mentioned to her mother.  
She'd rather marry Tamatoa than admit this to anyone. A fire she couldn't stomp out ... yet. And didn't dare to feed.

Maybe, in some time she'd be able to bury it deep withing her mind to never look back upon.  
Suddenly something heavy splashed through the waves behind her and tore her back to the present.  
Moana jumped to her feet, checking if some wayfinders of the night shift had seen what it was?  
Indeed they had. A young man with tattoos around his biceps pointed behind them. "There!"

‘ _Maui!?’_

Her heart beating heavy in her chest the young woman rushed from the spot, down to the floats end.  
With the rope they clinged to wrapped around her leg in case she slipped. Wide, dark eyes stared at the stirred up water behind them.

The moon turned the ocean in a deep, azurish black and glittered on the waves.The young chief’s chest was pounding wildly.  
With a loud roaring noise a huge grey body burst into the air, stretching it's white belly and flippers to the sky.

Not long after the ocean surface under it exploded in a migthy splash, hitting the last two canoes with a massive waterfront.

Nothing severe happened, but she could hear their shouts and screams.  
_This is a fast way to wake the next shift._

Moana laughed quietly -which was rare these days- and looked out for the mighty whale who just had disappeared.  
Now it's huge shadow was swimming next to her leading canoe. Happily she bent down, to get a closer look.  
Again water was blown into the air, as the whale exhaled. Moana could hear its big lungs, almost see its eyes.  
"Maui?", she called and wanted to reach out.

As another whale appeared on the other side of their boat.  
And another behind them. And another ... Another.  
Reality forced itself on the young chief again, as her heart sank like a rock.

Her people howled and laughed, as the school of whales attended their journey at this time.  
_What is small, but noticed by everyone? ..._  
Moana stood again, holding onto the rope and stared around in the smiling faces of her people, while she was the only one who didn't.

 

 


	2. Hakuri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was once named 'ho'oku'u' but I have forgotten what it ment, so I took a similar sounding  
> word. The translators I use are not very helpful ... 
> 
> So this one is called
> 
> "Hakuri"  
> meaning patient, or patience.

Strong wings tore the clouds apart, as a mighty eagle swept down. A loud cry was carried by the wind to the shore.  
Beneath him the island Motunui, surrounded by the blue ocean. Golden sunlight in his back, he dived further down  
to guide the canoe of Moana, the brave venturer, to its destiny. Home.

He circled above, while his friend had bolted like a pup off the boat and had tackled her folks.  
From up here he saw the whole village surrounding her little party with her family.  
  
_‘She has fans! Who would've guessed? Let's see if she'll keep them once I show up!’_  
  
The eagle chuckled arrogantly and steered down, placing a perfect landing on top of a palm, which didn't bend too much under his weight.  
But it took a while until it stopped swinging.  
  
_‘Ugh ... Gotta do somethin' about physics sometimes.’_

The big bird flapped his wings, staring down at the beach from a distance, sharp eyes and an unusual grinning beak.  
He could see Moana’s tearful eyes, her wet and burning cheeks and a big, happy and slobbery snout.  
The eagle giggled and shook his head. ‘ _Curly, curly. Always been a drama princess!’_

"I-I know you have questions. A lot.", her squaking voice made her way through the crowd and she looked around.  
"First let me answer the most important of all... Yes. Te Fiti's heart was restored! We are safe!"

 _‘Well, here comes my cue!’_ , the shapeshifter thought and stretched and spread his wings, ready to jump down and do his thing!  
_Maui, Demigod of the wind and sea_ , could already hear them chanting his name. ‘ _Better not let Mo have all the fun!’_

But as Moana was lifted up and carried and cherished by her people, he hesitated.  
He could see the surprise and wonder in her eyes, while the round about 200 people chanted her name -not his- carrying her like ...  _Something special!_  He heard a clear laugh coming from her giving him a heavy burning in his chest.

 _‘Nahh’_ , he thought lowering his wings. ‘ _Guess this is her show for now.’_  
So he stayed on his palm as a quiet witness.

They carried her a long way. Reached her around like some token everyone may touch once.  
Oh, except for him! 'Cause he already did have the honor! She's probably spinning her head looking for him! ‘ _Yeah.’_  
Wondering where he might be, missing his greatness! His sharp eagle eyes told him differently.  
She seemed happy, even  _letting_  herself get touched by everyone.

"Pff! Showoff!", the eagle growled and ruffled his feathers.  
The strange pattern on his coat seemed to move, even poked him.  
"What?", he muttered bugged.  
A little eagle on his chest pointed towards Moana and eyed him angryly.  
"Nope! Forget it!"  
Mini-Maui pecked him.  
"Ouch! And No!", he darted at this magical mini version of himself.  
"Poor humans probably would faint, once I show my awesomeness, letting her fall and forgetting she ever existed!  
I  _can't_  do this to her. So better not intervene ... "

The mini eagle pattern narrowed its eyes at him. There was another reason, it knew, he did too.  
And no other should. So better stop wearing it out. The whole way she had talked and talked  _and talked_  about  _how much_ she  _missed_  and  _loved_  her precious island. Now she was back to live her  _cute little princessy life_  without anything to worry about.  
As for him. Trickster, troublemaker, thief ...  
He still had some problems he had to deal with. She'd probably just stand in his way.

His far too great self-esteem told him it was more likely the other way around.  
With her squeeling voice, sloppy arms and puppy eyes, clumsy little Mo would only stand in his shadow.  
No, right now her people should only have eyes for her. She probably needed more time to blossom, to keep her fans for herself.  
Right now she was needed here. Where she belonged. ...

Maui ignored another hint of his mini self and set off, leaving the island.

  
\--------------------------------------------------

Time and time again the unstoppable, great Demigod Maui could not prevent thinking about  
his last big journey. Where he was vanquished in an uneven fight. Te Kā had hurled him out of the sky.  
He had lost his hook, stranded on an island far too small for his ego, was found by the little boy,  _whats-his-name._

It wasn't like he hadn't been buisy the last ..  _uhh._  He hadn't been counting the days on purpose.  
It felt like an eternity anyways.  
Without her. He had been bored.  
It was his first time visiting Motunui since he had decided to leave Moana out of his matters.

He had seen, she needed time with her family and that was his gift for her,  _byyy leaving her alone!_  
At least thats what he thought.  _Humans have such a short, simple life with their unimportant problems. So cute._  
He couldn't wait to dive into their midst, more importantly, he wanted to know how Mo had been doing and telling her what he had added to his heroism! ‘ _Wait! No. Not yet. It's too soon!’_ , he thought to himself.

His heart got a little jumpy, or was it the little shark on his chest swirling in wild circles around a happy Mini-Mo?  
"Easy there!". Wasn't sure if he said it to calm himself down and carried his shark body along the reef. Illuminated sunlight drew the playfull netshape of the waves above to the waterbed beneath him. Swarms of silvery fish withdrew at his sight, as he passed colorful corals. Full of life, but he had no eyes for the beauty of nature.

Maui reached the border of the reef, where the water became too shallow for him to swim as a shark.  
Cold light, like thunder bathed his body and he shrinked down to a round, purple fish continuing the last meters of his journey.  
Where the black lava rocks reached for the ocean, a fat lizard crawled on land and disappeared between the nearest bushes.  
_‘Alright, now let's see where she might be.’_

He didn't have to look long.  
The first peek out of the bushes, he spotted her wandering alone infront of her hut.  
Eyes wide, her cute snout pointed to the sky.

 _‘If she keeps hanging her jaw like that, she might get a different taste of nature.’_  Lizard-Maui grinned mischievous.  
For a moment he played with the nasty thought to grant her this particular wish, and sneaked closer to her. Heart beating fast.  
She didn't change a lot. Not at all actually. Still the same loose, curly mane. The little clumsy feetsies. The big, puppy eyes.  
He sighed. Then she started moving.

"Come, Pua!", she called her pink sidekick and rushed to the mountains towering above the village.

Curious where she might go, he withdrew into his hideout and a fat, green bug with a horned head buzzed out.  
She didn't stop once and ran like a toddler lured by a banana at a fishing rod, until she reached her destination.  
On top of the highest mountain stood a tower of stone tablets, overgrown by moss.

The instect sat down between a gap inside the stony wall of the mountain. Right beneath her feet.  
_‘What is she doing here?! I can't see!_ ’, he thought unsatisfied.

The bug was bugged by the idea of a better hiding spot, where he could actually see her.  
As soon as he scuttled around the egde, Moana called out loudly. "MAUI!?" Her voice was carried by the wind to far away corners of the island. He jerked in his movement, almost lost his grip on the rough stone, like something heavy just slapped him.  
"Maui Come Out! NOW! I know you're here!"  
_‘Impossible!_ _’_  
_‘How?!’_  
She couldn't possibly know he was here, right now at this moment. He was a master of many things!  
Disguise and sneaky skills were just two specialties of him! That kid couldn't possibly ...  
Maybe it was more like wishful thinking? ...

"MAUI!", her clear voice was strong, like a roar, like he had taught her. For a short time, his chest was swollen with selfadmiration, what a born teacher he is.  
All of this would be shattered by the fist of guilt in the next moment. " ** _MAU-EY_   _!!_** ", her voice was kissed by sadness, as something else was emerging from deep down and turned the call into muddy howling, to die in an echo. His insides turned upside down against his wishes and he swallowed a burning pain. She wasn't about to cry, was she? Silence came next, accompanied by her heavy breathing and some quiet muttering he couldn't understand.

He dared to take a peek. She was  _not_  crying, but her eyes sparkled. A smile was definetely missing too. He missed seeing it. She stayed, staring at the horizon in every direction, for about one hour. She didn't move, she even ignored the little pig to her feet with a low "Not now, Pua."  
_‘Wow ... ‘_

How he wished to suddenly jump out with a  _surprising face, dodgeing her fists, holding her._  NO.  
This was not going to happen! She wanted to be free, she loved it as much as he did!  
So both of them had to wait. Oh, and how they both did. ...

\------------------------

Maui had tried his best not to get spotted by anyone, while he visited Motunui for short time spans.  
Over the past 8 months he had been here about 5 times. ...  _Or was it 14 months?_  
And everytime he had followed Moana on top of the mountain, where she had stood and waited,  
and had  _stared at the ocean and waited._

 _‘This is SO BORING!’_  he had screamed inside. ‘ _Instead of staring at it, you actually could sail over it! HUH!?’_  
But no, the only thing changing had been how fast she ran up that hill and how eager she had been to get down again ...  
After that the time had come, where she hadn't been eager at all to climb  _up_  that mountain and couldn't wait to get  _down again._

Until she had stopped climbing it. ...  
Maui had watched her with careful eyes.  
The smile she had these days had been fake.  
He could tell. It had annoyed him. 

Whenever she had talked to the  _flirting mama-boys_  of her village, she smiled just like that.  
When she had talked to her parents, smiling was forced. Telling stories, about him had made her somewhat  _bitter_.

He hadn't liked that either. Still didn't.

The last time he had been here, Maui had been actually early with his visit. He hadn't wanted to miss  
Moana’s ceremony of becoming a chief. So two days beforehand the Demigod had spent most of the time as an insect in Moana’s very hut. Close to her.

She had been beautiful then, like a ...  _well stuffed chicken with golden feathers, yeah._  Her crown had been massive on her little head, but a well crafted item in many shades of red and fiery yellow.  
An image that had burned itself in his mind, like an ember he couldn't beat.

Still the same smile had haunted him since he had spotted it on her former naïve face. She had kept it up.  
He had witnessed it the whole time and because of it he hadn't enjoyed watching the feast, the dances.  
_‘This is so wrong’_ , he had thought. ‘ _This is what you wanted! Be happy!’_

Later that night, he had spotted her standing far away from the village. Alone at she shore, the black lavastone beneath her.  
_Bubbles -_ Maui had found a fitting name for her almighty sidekick - had consoled her by playing gently with her feet.

The young chief had held something wide in her hands - a banner with a huge stitching of him - Maui. She had hurled it back, ready to throw it in the ocean with her cute face twisted by... ‘ _Was it anger? Wow!’_ , he had thought and a broad selfloving grin had formed on his insect face. ‘ _Aww .. Look at her how she misses me!’_ _  
_ Something though had not let him enjoy this little success to the fullest. It had been small, rumbled in his chest.

Despite the fact, Moana had hesitated in her action, it still had hit him!  
_‘HOW- WHAT?! What'ya doin' with ME! Maui, shapeshifter, Demigod of the Wind and Sea! Hero of-‘_

And then she had disappeared back to her village, the banner still wrinkled up in her tight fists.

\-------------------------------------------  
  
Whatever he tried. He could not forget that night.  
He had waited until the guilt and his tattoos nagged him enough to finally meet with her again.  
But he had been too late.

Moana and half of her people had left the island a month prior.    
The moment he saw the large shell ontop of the ceremonial mountain, he knew she was on the right path.  
"That's it, curly ... That's it.", he mumbled to himself, as he stepped next to the little tower, his huge fish-hook placed over his shoulder.

The mini caricature of himself danced in excitement and anger around his chest, kicking where Maui's heart should be.  
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop, or I'll ban you to the south!", he threatened at his mini-self, pointing at it.  
Disgusted Mini-Maui put a hand over his nose. "Thought so, little stinker!"  
"Besides!", he blared with an open gesture. "She's on the right path! Free from chains 'n fears 'n anything holding her back."  
With that he took the shell from the tower and played with it like it was a ball. "I did it  _for her_!" Throwing it in the air and catching it with his big, strong hands.  
"She'll thank me someday!" spnning it on one finger. 

 _Red leaves and feathers bordered her face. Sad eyed and angry._  
_She wanted to throw it away._

The seashell stayed in his hand for a while, when his smug grin slowly died. He put the shell back and with a loud battle cry he jumped from the top of the mountain, dragging his strong voice behind. An eagle ascended, leaving Motunui towards the sinking sun.

_‘Just a little longer, you big fangirl.’_

 

__

 

 


	3. Noe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I have decided to only use ONE translator. ... it's so hard to find a good one.
> 
>  
> 
> "Noe" means 'fog' or 'mist'.

No cloud was blocking out the stars.  
The full moon fell on his strong feathered back, far beneath him the fast sea like a carpet of lava rock.  
Maui’s eagle-eyes were set on the horizon. He had no idea which stars Moana and her people had  
followed and he hadn't wanted to ask the remaining people of Motunui. ‘ _Pff.’_  
Like he had to ask the way. He was a Demigod!  _The One and Only!_  
He knew every corner of the ocean, every island he had pulled out of the sea,  _singlehandedly!_

So Maui was sure it'd be a matter of time until he spotted- and there lots of black dots appeared on the thin line between the sky and  _Bubbles_. "Boom, baby!", he laughed a little bit too loud and with a strong stroke of his wings he gained speed. The great eagle made a chortled noise of excitement.  
It had to be them! It had to be Moana!

The closer he soared the more it seemed like they had set sail with every little nutshell. But it wasn't hard to guess Moana had to be on the biggest one in the front. ‘ _Yeah, Girls love big boats! And Surprises!’_

Maui’s beak formed an evil grin, as he thought of the best possible way to reveal himself to his litte friend.  
So, when he got close enough, but not too close, he dropped down. It was hard to resist the urge to shout,  
while falling, like he usually did, but he wanted it to be a surprise!  
About twenty meters above the surface, the magic of his fish-hook ran through his body and  
made him  _Bigger! Better! Mighty!_

His whale-body clashed down, creating a huge, salty wave and he would laugh and party, if he wouldn't had been under water.  
He already could hear the first excited shouts. The shape-shifter shuddered in anticipation and swam closer to their canoes.  
_‘Oh the face she'll make, once she sees me!’_ , the whale grinned widely.

Out of the dark a grey shadow rose, passed him and performed a mighty leap close to the last two floats.  
_"Hey!"_ , he shouted scandalized, his voice formed in foam and bubbles.  _"Don't you Dare-"_  
Another whale appeared, taking deep breaths once it emerged.  
_"Stealing-"_  
Two more. Three more.  
_"My show ... "_

Whale-Maui frowned as the school of whales had their time and he let his flippers dangle from his floating, tattooed mostrosity, that was himself.  _"Ouh. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you."_  , he groused - even a kalf.  
_"Aww c'mon. Bringing your baby to the party?_ _Not. Cool!_ _How am I supposed to compete with that?!"_

Muttering he followed the huge mammals, not to lose track of the flotilla. He'd find another, equally funny way to reveal himself.  
It wasn't like Moana would go where he couldn't follow.  
  
\------------------

Moana breathed in the fresh air of the new day. The strong breeze played with her hair and leafy crown. Last night had been a valued lesson for her. Not only because of the conversation with mother. As the whales had appeared she had realized, it was foolish of her to wait for a soul like Maui to stop basking in freedom.  
It had been such a waste of her time.  
  
The young chief looked over her shoulder towards smiling faces. She knew what she had to do. She couldn't keep on doing this. Asking questions nobody could answer. Maui would come to her, when he's game and  _she_  should stop dreaming so much! Why would any god turn against their very nature just to please a single human’s notion?

_‘But he is wearing my story on his skin.’_

Moana filled her lungs to ease her depression -wrapped around her heart like spiderwebs- and focused on the next best thing in front of her. A seagull. She had noticed it guiding them since sunrise. _Meaning land must be_ _somehwere ahead!_  New found excitement drew a thin smile on her face as she searched the ocean. A foggy cloud was the only thing she could make out in this distance. She slightly frowned.

Moana couldn't tell what caused a certain feeling of dread and she wanted to be sure before alarming her people.  
Lightfooted she climbed up the strong sail to gain a better look.

She could not yet say what might have caused the fog. It was a poofy blob, only residing on this particular spot and didn't seem to spread.  
It was neither rain nor the sun boiling the seawater.  _Hana lepo._  If it was what she feared, they had to change course.  
The seagulls cry let her head turn, as the bird bolted towards the fog.

Well, that's odd, she thought tilting her head. If there'd be something dangerous, no animal would fly towards it.  
"Iida!", she called down to a buff woman tending the oar and pointed to the foggy bank.  
Iida nodded and pushed the wood to her left, turning the canoe north-east, right when Moana jumped down to her side.

The closer they came, the more Moana had to reconsider the true size of the cloud, which didn't seem to move and wasn't affected by the wind. She signaled her people to slow down and not get too close to it.  
The wayfinders of Motunui stared into the thick blanket lying before them.

"What is that?", Tui hissed to her, for he never had seen this kind of weather phenomenon in his life.  
"I don't know." she stated and as if she had said 'I'm going to find out!', her father prevented her from any rash decision, by taking her hand. "Moana." Smiling she raised an eyebrow. He had been right.  
The young chief squeezed her fathers hand, spun around and left him to prepare a longboat, tied up to the big canoes side.  
Stubborn like her daughter, he wouldn't drop it and followed her.

"Leaving again so fast?", came his low voice behind her.  
She turned to a more or less worried face. There was no harshness in his gaze and she couldn't help herself  
but to hug him, reassuring him she'd be careful. "Without you guys?", she lifted her gaze with a happy smile, even though she felt a heavy guilt for already having left them behind in the past.  
"... Never again."

She jumped on the small canoe, after she freed it from its ties, giving it in the care of her friend.  
"Ready?", she asked the water and it poured out a happy response. The ropes in her steady grip, she tore  
at the sail, caught the wind and was carried closer towards the fog.  
Tui stayed where he was and locked his eyes on his daughter fading silhouette until she was swallowed whole by the steam.  
In his fear of losing his child again, he had wanted to say more, but did not want to undermine her freshly gained authority.  
Practically he was still chief of Motunui, but with the return of Te Fiti’s heart the times had changed.

He had wanted to watch and learn what this Demigod had taught his too fast grown up child. And in time, maybe he'd be able to find his way back to the island where his people had dwelled for generations. Motunui was still his family's home.  
"OH! NO! YOU. DONT!", followed by hasty flapping feathers. Tui raised his gaze to an overfed seagull soaring through the air, past his ear. He ducked with widened unbelieving eyes and turned to his people in confusion.

He could tell by their stupid faces, that they may had stayed in the sun as long as he.  
"Did. ... Did the gull just speak?"

  
\--------------------

Moana couldn't see far. Frustrated she thought about turning around, for the fog was as white as milk. If she'd ventured further, she might get lost. This was was not controlled by the weather, so it had to be something supernatural.  
Oh, how she wished Maui would-  
_No. I am capable. I don't need Maui for guidance any longer._

Still she sighed. "Better safe than sorry.", she put her hands on the oar.  
_-CLONK-clonk-_  Moana blinked "Huh?" and bent over to the water. A small, fuzzy coconut drifted  
next to her float.  _A coconut_. Moana turned pale. So she had been right!

"Kakamora", she breathed as panic tingled her neck, turning her curly head in every direction. Still she couldn't see much, but from the deep, white smoke a massive shadow emerged, towering above her and coming closer every moment.

The last time she had seen a floating island-castle like this one, was when Maui and she first had fought side by side.  
_More or less_. Now she was alone and grinding her teeth. She had to admit, without Maui there would be no victory for her people.  
No sounds came from this huge hunk of rock and palms. No drums were played.

_‘They didn't notice us_ ,’ she hoped and nodded. Not wanting to wake these little creatures up, she dipped her oar as gently as she could into the water. Sneaking back would be the smartest decision now _. ‘Oh, why couldn't I listen to father?!’_  
_‘I could've listened and stayed with them, but Nooo 'little princess had to prove something again!'’_ , she scolded herself like Maui would've done. ... 

The frustrated cry of a seagull came from an uncertain direction and suddenly her canoe was thrown around by force and dragged with great speed closer to the Kakamora-Castle. She cried out, eyes closed shut, her hands wrapped in ropes, trying to stay  _the heck_ on that boat! As she felt the bow of her canoe crashing on stone, she lost her grip and was tossed on a lower platform.

Her curly hair had fused with a stingy crown and wrapped itself around her face. Strangs were everywhere and blocked her sight.  
Panting and squealing, she jumped on her feet, hastily uncovering her eyes to see if there was already trouble heading her way.  
What she saw instead made her falter.

In front of her were only coconuts, little masks and spears scattered around. The Kakamora weren't alive. Only coconuts.  
Still painted, but without their tiny holes. Moana frowned in a shocked state she could not allocate.  
She had no clue what had happened here, but if something was still here, she'd better get something to defend herself.  
Chief Moana groped a stick as long as she and jumped for cover, carefully searching through the area.  
_‘Okay. The ocean must've ... known something was here.’_  she thought. _‘_ _Why else would it gently_ nudge _me here?’_ __  
She needed to have a serious conversation with it about how it always threw her off her feet.  
  
The huge floating island was creepy enough in pure suneshine, but this? The little caverns and huts were empty, except for the colorful doodled coconuts laying everywhere. She held her stick in both hands, as an angry, rostered cry of a gull came from above.   
It sounded like the animal had found what Moana was looking for. Though, did she really want to see what attacked the animal?   
The panicked laughing didn't stop, insted she even heard it thrashing around? Poor thing. ...  
She rolled her eyes and sighed. Yes.   
Her crown would only block her sight and made her a walking target, so it had to stay here. For now.  
She tied up her long mane to a bun, shoved her stick under her belt and started to climb lightfooted a platform higher.   
  
A poofy bun and big, brown eyes peered over the egde of the next floor.  
The single, strong builded gull, flying up and letting itself fall hard to the ground, just to churn it's wings and feathercoat.  
Frustrated cries came everytime it started anew. Fly up, circle, falling -hard- and bleating.   
_‘What, by Te Fiti. ... ?’_  
It was so tied up in whatever it tried to do, that it didn't even realized it was being watched.  
  
Without a sound Moana shifted her body on the platform, her legs still dangled from it, when she felt the staff slipping under her belt.  
It didn't fall far  _-CLOCK-_ Moana flinched with one eye shut and the bird cried out like a chicken.   
She could've sworn she had heard this kind of cry somewhere before. It still was just the chattering of a gull, but it had strong resemblence with... Moana frowned, pulled herself to her feet and came closer with squinted eyes.  
This gull was unusually big, a broad beak, strong wings, and it's feathercoat had a grey pattern around it's back and torso.  
Loose grey feathers adorned it's head, like a silky skalp.  
" ... Maui?", Moana whispered.   
The animal locked i's gaze and backed away from her, the closer she came. It had a distressed look in its eyes.  
"Maui. ... is this you? ...", she tried to sound calm and was hissed at. Squealing she jerked her fingers back.   
Now she could see its pattern wasn't magical. Those were just spots. Was this not Maui? ...   
  
_But the rest! What about the rest?_  It's behaviour, how everything about this bird resembled her old friend. It was too obvious!  
The confusion in her skeptical eyes turned into annoyance and she groaned. "Maui! Snap out of it!"  
A normal animal would've bolted right away, after being shouted at. But not this one. It started to peck around at her feet that she cried out and fell backwards. Upset it cried at her, started to thrash around,  
flapping its wings, like it tried to attack the fog. Then panting it looked at her intensely.  _Those eyes._ __  
She stared right back at it and her heart sank. Thoughts and emotions made her head spin.  
The anger she had stored up inside disappeared and made room for her sadness. Oh, how she had missed him!  
But, why didn't he turn back into his hulky, brawny, tattooed self? Why didn't he give her one of those smirks, she wanted to wipe out of his face so many times.  _Had he been here the whole time?_  
_Was this the reason he never came back?_ __  
"Oh, Maui. ... ", her voice was not shaking, still she couldn't prevent one or two tears from falling, as she reached both her hands at him.  
Nothing happened. The gull -  _probably just a confused animal_  a small doubting voice told her- just stood there at first, then skipped a few steps to come closer. She lifted him up to her arms.  
"Oh, Maui.", she repeated hoarse. "What happened?"  
Maui-bird shifted around in her arms and pecked at her fingers. "Ouch! Stop!"  
He started to fidget around. Being picked up was apparently a big  _No-No!_  
_What irony._ the young chief shook her head -thinking about the many times he had lifted her up,  
thrown into the ocean, pushed around! - and let go of this egomaniac, who jumped around, pecked angrily at the coconuts and everything in its path.  _Yep._  That was definetly Maui, but why couldn't he turn himself back?  
It seemed like he couldn't. ...   
  
"This is very odd.", she said and gained an annoyed gurgle from Maui-Bird.   
  
  
\---------------------------  
  
Maui was angry.  
_‘URGH!’_  Angry was just a small portion, of what the Demigod felt!   
_‘Stupid Mini-Me HAD to get to my head! Saving her! What the *beep* IS this *beep?!’_ __  
He had known something wasn't right with this fog, but he hadn't had the proper time to remember  
what it might've been! ‘ _Little Princess couldn't wait! Little Princess had to check on her own!’_  
Feathers thrashed around and everything he barked came out as loud: _"SQUAjajajaK! Squajajaksquak squak SQUAK! Gurgle! SQUAjajaK!"_  
  
And now she was here and stared right at him with those  _big, pitiful eyes_!   
_‘Congrats, curly you have found me! Again!’_ __  
"Oh, Maui." __  
He hissed at her. He couldn't stand the tone in her voice, the look on her face!  
It made him feel all tingly inside! He shuddered and tried to shake it off. __  
_‘Ugh, this is so embarrassing!’_ __  
He wanted to be mad at her instead for not waiting one minute! He wanted to snap at her with his beak for not thinking twice!  
He met her eyes with an intense stare. When a few tears rolled down her cheeks his anger became shallow.  
_‘Naaaw. ... I can't stay mad at this pleading for forgiveness!’_ __  
He jumped closer to her, where she lifted him up.  
_‘Wowowowow?! That's new! STAHP!’_ __  
Held like a baby in his friends arms, he felt his little heart beat like pearls being hurled around in a coconut.  
He didn't like it and snapped at her hands, "Ouch! Stop!" so she let him fall to his flat, clumsy feet.   
  
_‘URGH, this is just PERFECT!’_ , he let his anger out on this stupid fog and the next best thing near him.  
He didn't know why, but all of this made him uncomfortaly tense.   
He didn't know what to do!   
All he knew was, he had to get out of this damn fog as soon as possible. He had a bad feeling.   
The fog had felt ... weird.  When he had entered it, he had felt his tattoos...  _burn the old memories in his mind._ __  
He couldn't grasp a more suitable description what had happened. He could still feel the old sensations  
\- pain, anger, rage, fear he had felt when he did all these memorable heroics- stir up in him like it happened yesterday.  
There was happiness and love too, but he didn't want to touch it. His tattoos on his strong chest were just some weird spotted mood of nature now! No Mini-Maui! No Mini-Mo! He already missed his little pal!  
  
"This is very odd.", came Moana’s voice from behind him.   
_Tell me about it: "Gurrrgle."_  
  
Maui had wings! He could've left her. Right here. On the spot.  
Getting out of that damn soup. Maybe he should have in hindsight.  
But he didn't. After all she had won the little hide and seek, they had played without her even knowing.  
And her price was:  _HIM!_ Okay, maybe not really him. But he'd work on it, once they left this damned fog.   
  
Moana took another stroll around, to assure they were alone. He rolled her eyes at her. Of course they were alone!  
Besides! Nothing had jumped up on them, while she had her eyes only on him. Maui had noticed he wasn't the only one affected by this fog.  
One look at the fuzzy orbs was enough. He just didn't care about these _dirty, little pirates!_  
They had terrorized his peop- ...  _the humans_  for a long time now!  
_Good riddance_ , he thought and sat there, while Curly fuzzed around, fixed the boat and stole some of the ...  _Darts?_  
_‘And one blowpipe?  Well, well well, Curly! How daring!’_  
  
Curious he tilted his head, he stepped from one flatfoot to another, eager to get away and swooped down on her boat.  
Moana pushed the canoe mumbling, but not talking to him. Not even as he flapped around to be right in her field of sight!   
She was focused on getting them away from here and ignored him, until they were on their way.   
_Bubbles_  sloshed relieved around them.   
  
Neither of them looked back at the island, as it was swallowed by the fog again.  
Maui sat at the egde of the bow. "Maui?"  His head turned away, he didn't want to look at her face at the moment.  
Those bright eyes always made him feel prickly.  
"Don't worry.", came from her once more, as they reached the end of the fog. "I'm going to find a way to help you ... "  
She always knew what to say to give his emotional wall a big shake. His insides suddenly were like Lava trying to swim!  
It got heavy. He got heavy too that the canoe made a curious creak. A sudden light exploded in front of the young chief, blinding her.  
With great force and a startled noise, she was catapulted by his sudden transformation. Over his head, into the ocean.  
The canoe pitched and tossed under him, as he jumped to his feet- the hook in both hands!  
"I'm back? ..", one checking look around him, over his chest. Mini-Maui sat on his bottom, holding a spinning head.    
"I'm BACK!". he cheered, laughed, howled and jumped around on the canoe. "I'm Ba-Ack!  _Ouh yeah!_ "  
Busy with his victory dance, he dismissed the splashing sound behind him, as the ocean carried Moana back.  
  
There she stood, wet and soaked, shaken to the bone,  _ignored._  
His voice was like music she liked but  turned her mad. ‘ _Sure, if one won't say goodbye, so why would come a friendly greeting?’_  
He had  _hissed_  at her.  _He had bitten her!_  She didn't know for sure what had happened with him or the Kakamora and if she really helped him getting back to his human form.  _Or did he just play one of his games with her?_ Almost two years and not a word! Not a sign that the cared!  
And now, all he could still think about was himself!? The young chief felt the old, bottled up rage take over and she took her oar.   
Maui's happy laughter turned into many, many  _Ow!'s_  and  _Argh!s_  and  _Stop-it!'s_ while Moana, chief and master wayfinder of Motunui let out all her frustration.   
  
"Wowowow! He- HEY!", he warned her loudly and finally caught the end of her oar with one of his big,  
strong hands. "Geeze! What's gotten into you, Kid!?"  
Moana could only bring one single word over her lips, while tears of anger burned on her face. She had had enough time to think of hundreds of names she wanted to call him. But now only one made its way to his ears and it wasn't even a creative one.  
".. Idiot!", she tried not to whimper or look away and bit her lip, shakily holding to her oar.   
Wistful eyes stared at his brawny, tanned and tattooed features. His broad face, framed by his black,  _silky_  curls.  
This stupid charismatic tooth gap he had.  _Urgh!_  How much she had missed the sight of this stupid, wool-headed oaf!   
  
Maui's frown disappeared looking at her trembling. He didn't realize what he had done, or why she was so upset.  
But he could see her pain. ‘ _Weird.’_  Usually seeing people cry had not such a strong effect on him.  
_‘Did she really miss me that much?’_  
  
"Ohw. ... Curly... ", his low voice rumbled apologizing, as he let go of her oar. He didn't know what to say at first. Mini-Maui reached for Mini-Moana, hugging her in comfort, but Maui's pride wanted it to be different. So he spread his musculous arms and sneered at the little chief.  
"... C'mon, you may touch the buff.", he purred in a flirty tone and winked. "You know you want to."   
Moana cried a laughing groan, looking at him. That jerk would never change!   
As if the past depression was left behind like the odd fog, she staggered to him and let out a soft, sniffling giggle.   
Her arms and head hanging, she leaned into him as he closed his arms around her. "There, there."   
He gently patted her back. "See? All's good now. I'm here ..."  
Moana laughed shortly and nodded, wiping her tears away.  
"Yeah. ...", but still she didn't want to let go. ...  
"Besides.", he added in the same comforting tone, while rocking her gently. "It's not like I missed anything important."  
  
As they parted he knew he shouldn't have said that last one. He suddenly remembered Moana was still unaware that Maui had been with her all the time in the past. But it was too late to take the words back. He didn't even dodge her fist, like he had planned.  
\---------------------------

Sina stood at the egde of the canoe and stared at the unnerving fog in the distance, one hand carefully placed on her belly.  
A confused Tui had woken and told her, why they were waiting and that Moana had left them to check on the source of that thing towering up into the sky. Usually she would've been tense with Tui, for letting her go without suggesting her another solution.   
She wondered, if this anger was equal to what her husband had felt about two years ago.   __  
Tui stepped next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in a loving gesture. His eyes were fixed at the cloud.  
She saw the same sorrow in his features. The same fear and pain. She couldn't be mad at him. She  _shouldn't._ __  
  
The pretty woman tilted her head against his chest and sighed.   
"About the talking gull, my dear ... "  
Tui stiffened a bit. He still couldn't believe this had happened and that he probably needed some rest, though Iida and other wayfinders had told the same rubbish. "What?" He better kept his doubt to himself and acted like he didn't know what she was talking about.  
Sina didn't believe him, but ignored his attempt to seem more sane that the rest who told the story.   
"I think I may know what -  _or who_  -  it was."   
"Of course!", he said a little bit too surprised. Why didn't he think of it ? This trickster must've been secretly following them. __  
Sina chuckled and was glad some hope was presently lifting their spirits.  
Knowing their daughter wasn't alone out there in the unknown, it was a little bit easier for them to  
let her be who she wanted to be.  _Our child, chosen by the ocean, blessed by Te Fiti and guarded by a god._  
"She'll come back safe.", she said with full confidence. 

Thats when angry shouting came from the sea. Tui narrowed  and shielded his eyes from the sun.  
It was Moana’s sail! She came back! But she was not alone?  
"It's Moana!", Sina called out to her people. A huge man, twice the size of Tui was with her.  
"Who- .."

As they came closer and closer, Tui could see their rash movements, while some of his loud and very painful noises reached their canoes. Was she fighting him? Alarmed he jumped off to take a spear, but as he came back they. ...  _Hugged?_  
Tui took a deep breath, as another kind of alarm rang in his mind. This thousand-year-old creep is touching my daughter!?  
Tensely he knocked the end of his spear on the planks, what Sina noticed.   
"Tui. Don't you _see_ them?", she asked in a hushed tone, looking in his face like she had something important to tell him instead.   
He looked from his wife to his daughter, back and forth - who started again to punch that hulk of a man and chased him into the water only to be carried back by magical waves.  
  
Furious shouting came next.  
_" ... Jerk ... Demi-diot .. Stupid ... Selfish Bastard!_ " And some words he didn't want to repeat.     
"My daughter beating up a demigod?" he eyed his wife and saw her rolling eyes. "What? Do you see more?"  

"She is not in danger!", Sina answered.  
Moana seemed to have found her oar again.   
"He is."

 

 


	4. hekili

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of my fav chapters. :) 
> 
> "Hekili" stands for 'thunder'

Maui on his back, soaked in salty water had an irritated look on his face, as Moana stood above him, the flat wood in her hands. "C'mon. Really,  _Bubbles_?! Could you please  _not_  intervene for once!?"  
She was shaking, adrenalyne still running through her veins. Never had she gotten so  _out of hand._  
  
Terrified by herself, she looked down at Maui whose mood was cleary anything but happy to see her. She beat her friend.  
_‘I beat him!’_ She let go of the oar, like it had burned her. something definetely wasn't right here! With her  
Eager to fix something she may've damaged too much, she lunged to help the shapeshifter get up.  
She didn't know what to say, so she babbled random excuses, probably not good enough for the Demigod.  
He leered at her in great resentment, though he cleary showed no sign of being actually hurt.   
Except for his ego. "Nnope! Uh-uh!", he grabed her with both hands and put her like a totem further away from him.  
"You've got a time-out now, going all drumstick on me,  _chief!_ "    
  
Moana tried to ignore the sarcasm in his tone, but when he nodded towards the round about 100 people observing her outbursts, she suddenly knew what he meant. She had a status to represent, and she totally sank  _that_  canoe.   
Grinning he lowered his head towards her, that his black curls fell on his chest.  
"Better saving it for some alone time, don't ya think?  _Wink!_ ", he sneered like a murky toad.   
She growled, shooting darts at him and wished the blowpipe was on her side of the canoe.   
  
But still.   
Why did she flip out, though?   
Slowly her head turned to the towering fog behind them. Maui studied her calculating expression with a blank face, while Mini-Maui turned into a chicken, seeking cover. The Demi-God almost followed this advice, as Moana’s question tied him up.  
"What did happen in there?", she looked at him suspiciously.   
" _Noneya_."   
"Maui, what-", she made a step and was put back in an instant.  
"Nnoopey,  _chiefy_! Gotta time-out! remember?", then crossed his arms. "No touchies for you today anymore!"  
"I'm not gonna-!", she started to defend herself, but moaning stopped herself from going crazy on him again.  
_‘He's doing it on purpose!_   _Don't let him get to you!  Stupid beach hunk!’_  
"Listen. I'm sorry, okay? Let's please just-"  
"Pfft!", he turned away, ready to give his fish-hook a few swings and couldn't help but grin when he  
heard a hint of panic in her voice. "Maui!", she called out, fearing he'd disappear again too soon.  
Actually she didn't want to tell him, but one could see she wished for a little more time.  
The maori still showed her his back. "Please stay. ... ?"  
Silence.  
_‘This guy is unbelievable!’_ , she thought grinding her teeth. ‘ _Okay! You try pulling my strings? Prepare for this! ‘_  
Then she cleared her throat.  
"I, Moana, chief of Motonui, -" Maui mimicked her words with a squaking hand.  
"-  _welcome you_ , Maui, shapeshifter, Demigod of the wind and sea ...", her voice was strong and proud. Maui lowered his hand, listening.  
She knew she'd keep a sour taste for weeks after this one.  
_"hero of all. ..._ and invite you to ... to ..", she looked around. Canoes!  
" ...  _bless_  the first voyage of my people!" She felt like she was forced to paint his feet golden.  
And here was that aweful taste in the back of her tongue.     
  
Again silence fell over them until Moana must've felt awkwardly enough and he didn't want to keep her waiting any longer.   
Then he put down his hook, raised both his hands and started clapping slowly, painfully for her.  
"That ... ", he turned with a drunken grin. " Was a  _beautiful_  performance!" He bent over to her, still clapping, and sassily laughed in her face.  
"Did you practice while I was gone,  _Chief Curly_?" He didn't give her a chance to response to his little huzzle.  
He felt all cozy inside to have heard every single word she had chewed on. She prized him, and she knew it.  
That was just priceless!  _Tasty!_  He kept giggling, winked at her and turned to the other canoes, holding his mighty fish-hook.   
"Don't want to let the other fans waitin'."  
  
Just in time Moana held on to the mast, before Maui leaped high up into the air with an impressinve shout.  
" _Watch Me_ _eeeeeehhhh!_ " He left her on a whirling boat, shielding her eyes.  
He didn't see her shaking head and bright smile, as he set off. This time she wouldn't lose sight on him!  
Nostalgia filled her heart, watching him in action and she knew this is what she had missed this past year.  
The ocean had lead her - again - to find  _him_!  
  
The ocean had chosen them both.  
Did this mean they were connected somehow?  
_‘Of course we are!’_ , she figured first.   
_Maui taught us once how to sail, how the sea behaves, how to read the stars!_ She was his succsessor!  
But then, slowly, she remembered the whales.  
  
Moana wasn't like him. No godlike creature.   
She was just human and trying to be anything else, anything  _higher_ to be even with him, wouldn't change a thing about that.   
She wasn't the girl standing on top of that mountain any longer. She saw that now.  
And even if this fact stinged her like the beak of an overzised seagull, she knew this was not how she'd disappear.    
She was still here out on the ocean, while Maui was up there.   
  
\-----------------------------------------

High up in the air, the wind pressing on his face, the sun burned almost as hot on his skin as the sensation in his chest.   
He couldn't help but smile, like someone tried to tickle him -  and it was not tiny Maui! The big, tattooed man spun around, like he wanted to wrap himself up in this feeling and shaped into the huge eagle. He felt great!  Mo had made sure of that.  
He had needed that little nudge, after this awful experience inside the fog. Maui wasn't sure if it was going to work, what he planned.  
Blowing away that aweful smog, he had the feeling it was his fault somehow. How, he couldn't recall and he tried not to think about it.  
Higher and higher his wings brought him, until he had a good view on this mushy mass.   
  
_‘Better clear out all the pillars around the ocean, before Moana and her people find them first.’_  
_‘Later! AFTER the celebration, of course!’_

The great eagle circled around the foggy cloud, faster, until his wings were supported by godlike wind. It had been a long time since he had tried out a move like that. Mini Maui-Hawk hesitated, tried to slow them down. "Don't be a chicken, tiny! It's like sailing!" It wasn't.  
He had to admit, he was a little rusty and didn't quite get the hang on how he actually controlled the whirling storm, he just called upon.  
He didn't remember this being that hard! His wings glittered, the air prickled with energy. As thunder gathered around his feathers.  
That was not planned! He could not interrupt, he could not speak, not cry out. Only his eyes showed a hint of the terror he felt.   
He could not stop! He had to get through this spell  _fast_  or he'd  _burst_  out too soon! The canoes! Moana! ‘ _I'm such an idiot!’_  
It hurt, A lot. 

  
  
Dark clouds gathered above the sea in a vortex. Lightning spread from Maui's wings. " _What_  is he doing?!", Moana called out and tried to steady her canoe against the rough wind and get back to her flotilla. Her people already reacted to the sudden strong breeze, that howled around the sails and blew an oddly, high-pitched crying basket off the boat.  
Moana eyed it with parted lips until it was dropped by the wind and thunder roared in the sky.  
  
"MOANA!", Tui called out against the raising storm, though she was only 20 meters away. "What is he doing?!"  
"Making it worse!", she barked as she climbed off her canoe. As soon, as she stood on her platform.  
"All hands! To the halyards! Full and by!", she shouted her commands in a strong tone and jumped to the docklines, supporting her people.  
"Use the wind! Let's get out of here!"   
  
Pain bursted through his veins like fire, making his wings numb. He fought it nonetheless, white lightning filled his eyes as he soared higher.  
Fog and sky had fused into a spiral. Right above where their kiss was the weakest, the giant thunderbird emerged from dust and small waterdrops, carrying lightorbs aflamed him golden. The Demigod spread his wings and let go of the charged energy in a thunderous cry.  
The sky roared, lighting spread through the clouds and Maui exploded in light. The young chief’s eyes were fixed on the enormous waves blocking their way. The didn't want to think about what might happen to her people behind her. Her heart tossed the adrenalyne around her system as she heard the unwordly cry in the skies.   
Three seconds of silence passed, then a massive storm hit and seized their sails.  
"HOLD ON!", she cried out in pain, desperately clinged to the ties so hard, they tore at her palms and blurred her sight.  
She could not see what had happened! Fog and clouds alike were torn apart, like water washes away dry sand.   
The storm swept away everything in its path.  
  
When the wind died, Moana dared to take a look behind. Hastily counting the canoes.  _Oh, please, please, please, please!_  
" _Onetwothreefour_ , five, ten-", she took a deep relieved breath. "Arrrww, thank you, ocean!"  
Some longboats were missing, but nothing else. Only now she scouted the sea! The storm was gone. Sunshine?! No breeze was blowing, like the sky was out of wind and just so, no sign of the Kakamora-Island. "What?", Maona breathed. It had disappeared!  
She could hear her people’s mumbling voices, as they checked on each other.  
"Moana! Come fast!", Iida called her.   
"What is it?"  
"Moana I'm ... I'm so sorry ... ", the big woman0s voice was breathy. " ... It's ... Sina, she ..."  
Slowly she felt her innards turning into ash. Her feelings into ..  _nothing._  
" _No._ "  
   
A strong and proud man kneeled at the bow with hanging shoulders.  
He did not move, paralyzed.  
"Dad." a distinct voice called for him, but he stared down the ocean. In his hands a ripped piece of Sina’s bracers.  
She wasn't sure if he even realized that it was her wrapping her arms around him, as he started talking.  
"She fell- I- I couldn't-!", he was shaking and tried to understand. He stared down at his hands, like _they_  had done something wrong.  
"I couldn't ..."  
"Dad. ... ", Moana placed trembling palms on his wet face, tried to make her father look at her. She tried so hard not to falter, gritted her teeth until her jaw hurt. Still she could not prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks, like she was just a little girl.   
  
\---------------------------------------------------  
  
It had not been the wind that had thrown her off the boat. It had been a huge waterfront, hurling her into the air.  
She had tried to hold on to Tui, when water and wind and mist had swung her around like a seashell. Like she was nothing.  
She hit the ocean, heart racing in her chest, distraught trying to free herself from the current that sucked her down.   
Instinctevily Sina went with it! Diving under it, then was tossed back to the surface. She took a deep breath and franticly tried to see.  
Water, fog and lighting! The waves were like mountains, blocking her sight. She couldn't see the canoes! They were gone!  
Wildly she rowed with her arms, kept breathing and tried not to swallow too much sea water. She knew shouting would make her more tired! Something! There had to be something to hold on!   
  
No, she'd not give up, even though dread had her at her neck. She'd find a way! She was a wayfinder too!  
Sina had to care not only for her own life. She knew what nobody else knew. Sleeping beneath her heart.   
_Tui's desperate eyes as he lost his grip on her._ She refused to do this to her family! She had to stay strong!   
She didn't see where the light came from, it was not relevant! She knew it was a godlike storm! Anything could happen!  
Still she would not let go of her faith so long as she kept breathing!   
Something hit her face, dipping her again under water for a short moment. A basket! She didn't loose one second to grab it and hold onto it.  
It cried out to her like a chicken. Infact, it was a rooster, sticking out it's scrawny head.    
Stupid eyes met her terror. "Urgh,  _My hero!_ ", she tried to lift her spirit. She was still scared and felt her strength weaken, with every moment.   
But she'd wait and hold on.   
  
When the storm suddenly disappeared, she dared to take another look around. The waves seemed to calm and the sky was filled with golden rain.  
Something heavy clashed next to her out of the waves and startled a little howl out of her. The ocean beneath her did a little hiccup, as it spit out a longboat. Or what was left of it. the sail was torn apart. Grunting she rushed towards hit, while not letting go of the basket.  
Hei-Hei inside had stopped squaking and now eyed her excitedly. "The gods .. favor this little..."  
She actually managed to pull herself and the basket onto the canoe, where she dropped on the back. Her limbs were tense and her hole body was trembling.  
Tender hands were put gently on her belly. She was alive.  And so was this huge glob of falling muscles and black curls, who missed the canoe by a few meters.  
Sina cowered on her spot with disbelieving eyes, as the ocean gently floated the moaning Demifod also on the canoe.  
  
Maui felt like he had pulled two suns at once for ages and cupped his aching temples.   
" ... Nice to get some team-work here,  _Bubbles._ " he said hushly with a steaming breath. Groaning he lifted his hand and gave the ocean for once a high five. He sat up slowly, his all muscles wobbly. Tiny was laying on his back, hair smoking like an exstinguished torch.  
"You okay, buddy?" the huge man spoke to his chest. Mini-Maui lifted a thumb and made a rude gesture after.  
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?", he argued and wanted to gesture wildy around, but a sharp pain in his right bicep made him flinch.  
" _Argh!_ ", he hissed and groped his arm.  
That was when eyes like Moana’s met his. His heart dropped for a moment, as they stared at each other.  
He had seen this woman many times before and knew who she was. Sina laid quietly on her flank, one hand around her belly, the other trying to hold her up. Her vision began to blur out and she slowly lost the control over her body.  
Maui's guilty features were the last thing she saw, before exhaustion overcame her.

 

 


	5. mai kula da

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "mai kula da" means 'guardian'

 

The shape-shifter was confused. His right upper arm wouldn't stop burning, but there was no wound.   
While his unexpected companion snoozed off safely next to him, he had fixed the sail. Maui got the feeling there was something odd, as he pulled the ties. They didn't move. something seemed to be missing, but he could not recall what it was.

"Huh. ... ", he stared up the mast with parted lips, showing his tooth gap.  
"Gotta do something 'bout that sometimes. ..", he shrug.  
Mini-Maui stared at him and blinked in confusion, like Maui just lost his mind.   
Maui kept hissing and cupping his shoulder. "Darn, that stings! I can't  _see_! Check for me, buddy, would ya?"   
Tiny shook his head and sighed, before hiking there and started to rampage.  
"Ow, ow, ow, What are ya doing over there!"  
Low moaning let them both swallow their words and expressions.   
"Shushushshsh!", he pressed his finger on Mini-Maui's face, suffocating him. The Demigod didn't want to care for the weakened woman, while figuring out how to keep up with Moana’s flotilla. He could not see them anywhere nearby, so they had been blown away a  _loong_  way.  
It would've been  _soo_  much easier, but the queen of Motonui had to end her beauty sleep  _now._  
  
Sina tilted her head around and opened her eyes. Moana looked so much like her and he wondered if she'd grow in a similar tropical flower in a few years. When Sina noticed him, his face was first blank and not sure how to react - then a weird grin followed.  
"Hey!", came a sassy greeting.  
Sina’s lips parted and she drew a breath - but she was too dazzled. She had heard stories about him and knew him only from tapa-carpets.  
Moana had described him many times, but to actually  _see_  him in person was an impressive experience. Strong arms, broad shoulders and ancient Maori-Tattoos decorated his whole body from the neck to the feet. This man was taller than Tui- about an ell- and buffer.   
She had expected his eyes to be more ferocious, but instead they were soft.  
  
"It's okay.", he nodded reassuring with a slight gesture of his hand. "No, need to speak. A lot of women are powerless when looking at a Demigod." His attempt to play the flirty card was foiled by her sudden movement, she did not seem to have enough energy to stand, even to sit. But there she was, looking at him at the same level. His eyes fell on her condition.  
If he was impressed, he didn't show it.  
"... You ...". Sina started and tried her best not to fall to her knees again. She needed a moment longer to gain the right state of mind.  
" ... Listen, Okay?.", he didn't wait for her to end after some moments of silence. He didn't want to be rude, but he had neither the patience nor the right mood to entertain anyone. "Leave everything to me here. I'll fix it!", he threw the advice at her like some souvenir.  
The harsh tone in her response somehow shook him like a little earth quake.   
  
"Are you  _sure_  about that?!" Sina drew his full attention back at her battered self.

Maui could not believe how a person was able to combine blame - he had blown the canoes away, make a storm, stirred up the whole, damn ocean – and doubt in his abilities in a perfectly timed one-liner. And it hit, right where it hurt. Mini-Maui dropped his jaw.  
He glared at her. It was just like trying to startle a flower.   
"..  _ugh_  ...  I think my undies just ran for cover ... ", she mumbled tired, after she took note of the face he was making. Sina seemed to understand that she was not on his level. She was just a rare plant compared to him, but still she showed her colors.  
" _Whohohoo ..._ ", he laughed amazed. This was almost fun. " You're pretty savage for a wall-flower."  
" ... growing up among 8 brothers ...  taught me how to respond to  _pumpous puffballs_  ... "  
Mini Maui - still staring - slowly started clapping and earned a threatening glance.  
"Tsk! No wonder Moana is fighting so hard for attention.", he grumbled to himself and turned around, to adjust the oar. Catching the stream was the wiser option now. Sina only had studied his features for a while and sat down, after her legs had given in to her own weight.  
The storm had taken a lot of her energy and she could feel her hands trembling. At least Maui was right about bringing them back.  
The longboat was carried slowly by the ocean.  
  
Curious eyes wandered over his muscular back, along the legends his skin was telling. They resigned a while at his scruff.  
A sad story was looking back at her and she put her hands on her belly.  _What an awful thing to do ..._  
His back -in form of tiny Maui- waved back at her.   
" _What in the name of ..._  "  
"Yeah!", of course he knew what she was mumbling about. "You can literally talk to my back."   
" .. while talking  _behind_  your back .. ", she mumbled.  Slightly amused, she'd take anything ...   _Anything_ , just to keep her mood above sealevel. Even if it's talking back like a savage to the  _God_  who had almost killed her. Something about him made her wonder, but she couldn't put her finger on it yet. His whole appearance was exciting and he could be intimidating. The carpet on his skin was like scaly armor.   
Being around someone like him, did make her feel _like everything was going to be okay._    
She smiled and started to understand.   
"... thank you ... ", she whispered softly, closing her eyes.  
"Mh? Did 'ya say somethin'?", he knew she did and he wanted to keep this game on going. Sina was an interesting person, he had to admit.  
She had surprised him twice in a row, almost as good as Moana did back then. He clearly could see the resemblance - not only their eyes, the hair - but their way of talking back. She was clever and fearless.  
" .. for guarding my daughter."   
Maui's response came after a peaceful while had passed, like he had considered the honesty and true meaning behind her words.   
" ... You're welcome."  
The sky stayed clear of wind and clouds, like it was tired after a fight and it took them hours.  
Maui still felt like he forgot something very important to him. It bothered him like something stuck between his teeth, while Mini-Maui dreamed of flying.  
 

\----------------------------

They had tied up every boat, so they could come together as one being to remember her.  
Tui sat in the middle surrounded by the elders, family and friends, forming a net of arms and hands,   
so that nobody would be alone. His face showed every facet of pain his heart was torn apart by, though  
he made no sound. He stared down the wood beneath his knees, tears had formed a small puddle.   
Pride forbid him to let himself go too far, to plead  _who_  or  _what_  had taken her from him.   
  
She had been his strength. Her roots had held his earth tight and strong, his head and heart in balance.   
Now all the years and love she had given him crushed him from the inside like burning venom. It consumed him.  
Yet he wouldn't let anything interrupt the chain he was part of. He wouldn't let go of Moana’s hands.  
The young woman pressed her face in his shoulder and bit her lower lip, so she wouldn't break the silence.  
The only thing she could see and hear was falling water and the low waves of quivering breaths.  
  
No volcano, nor the flames of Te Kā could hold the blazing she had to bear. Desperately she tried to remember her mother’s scent, the tone of every mood in her voice. How she used to wrinkle her eyebrow when she, her only child, needed advice or encouragement. Her silent looks, always locking her gaze on her, giving her something to hold on!  
Moana was paralyzed as her mind was tossed around by blame and loss, yet she wouldn't let go of Sina’s gentle smile.  
Her calming voice and understanding spirit would stay and give her solace.  
  
The storm inside her wasn't over though.  
Everything she thought about fell victim to her pain.   
In her grief she turned to the newest memory, how her mother’s eyes had sparkled in the moonlight and how she had eased her anger.   
_What is small, but noticed by everyone?_

When it was time she tried to clear her voice and calm her heart by breathing her pain away.  
And she began to sing in an ancient tongue.    
_"ka mea hele ma laila aku i ke kahakai"_  
_"Ua o Sina. Ka makani hāpai ia."_ , the strong voice of her father answered her, so did her people.   
_"ʻAe. Ua o Sina."_ , they answered as if they were one being with 100 voices.   
_"Ae ia o Sina. I hoomanao i kona inoa."_ , Moana responded in a melodic tone and threw back her head to face the sky.  
Salt and water had turned her skin sore and the sunlight stinged. ...   
Together they sang. Nobody would mourn alone.

  
_Wanda ke can nesa da tudu_  
_Ua o Sina. Ka makani hāpai ia._  
Ae. Ua o Sina.  
_Ae ia o Sina. I hoomanao i kona inoa._  
E hoomanao mākou iā ia.  
Mākou i kona inoa.  
  
After the ceremony, no wind was blowing. Nobody said a word, everyone was wrapped up in their own thoughts. Sina had been loved by everyone.  
The woman who never judged too fast. She had been friend and family. Moana could not believe she'd never hear her voice in the crowd again.  
Young, brave Chief Moana sat by the water in the far corner of their flotilla, her arms wrapped around her knees. Dark eyes sparkled curses.  
Nobody would disturb her now. The late sun turned the remains of its little streams amber, as she looked at nothing.  
Thought about nothing. Her insides were still fried, but numb like walking on stone for too long. Only a few sparks were gleaming.   
Moana didn't want to know what had happened to Maui, 'nor did she miss him.  _It has been his fault._  
She always had feared something like this might happen on the voyage. She even had tried to prepare herself, but she never believed it could've been her.   
  
"Go away.", she said blankly, her voice hoarse.  
Towering in front of her the creature who she had thought to be her friend stayed quiet. All her life she had been drawn to the ocean and taught by Grandmother Tala to be gentle to it. She always had trust in it, always found her way back to the water. But this time it had betrayed her in the worst way she could imagine. The ocean had taken her mother away. Moana’s heart was broken.  
What good is a friend as deep as the ocean and as mighty as the gods, when they're not able to save a single life.  
Despite Moana’s wish, the wave stayed, where it was. It would stay at her side as a part of her as long as she lived.   
" _Go. Away."_  Moana repeated her demand in a sharp hiss and darted furious eyes at the ocean.  
The surface threw a distorted version of herself back at her. Like being challenged by one’s own reflection Moana lashed out at it with poisonous glare. " _Why_?!" she snarled as tears began to fall again.  
"Why  _her_?!"   
No answer came. No reaction. The gulp of ocean just stayed. ‘ _To haunt me!’_ , Moana thought bitter.  
Moana could not say when she had raised to her feet. Her limbs had been mellow the whole time, but now she would not let this go. Her throat was dry and the softness of her singing voice was now just a memory.   
"Is your aid just too precious to waste it on mere mortals?!", she cried out in frustration and paused in hope to get  _any emotion_  out of the ocean.  
  
"Am I that special to keep going, while everyone around me just has to disappear?!"  
All of this suddenly had a familiar taste to it. Hopelessly the young chief tried to wrap a thought around it. Anger reignited inside her as she  thought about Maui and dried her face. Did the Demigod feel the same way at some point? Was this the true reason why he had stolen the heart from inside Te Fiti in the first place?  _Creating Life, Not having to die._  
Moana panted, allowed herself to breathe. She knew the ocean never would give her a straight answer.  
It never had done so. The only thing she could do was acknowledge her defeat and it was like drinking acid at the moment.  
"I just ... ", she breathed. " ... I would give you  _anything_  ... But  _please_  ... If there is any hope she might be still out there!"  
Moana chocked quietly and swallowed her misery, as the narrow water-neck dropped down into the sea.  _Blubb._  
She never had felt so alone in her entire life - except for the moment Maui had left her in the middle of the vast ocean.  
A little ember under all this confusion started to breath anew. _Maui._  
Did he fall?  
The thought of that filled the holes loss had burned inside her skin with an old sorrow. The young chief was too beat up to fight it.   
She knew hewasn't at fault here and she had to accept that. Moana swallowed hard. She knew he just had wanted to help and it wasn't like him to risk innocent lives. Questions filled her head as she remembered the Kakamora-Island and how strangely Maui's shape-shifting powers had reacted to the fog. Something inside there must've changed something about  _them_. It almost had been like Maui had blown away the fog and the island alike. Moana had the feeling she'd find out in the future, but first she had to tend to her people  _and her father_.   
  
She turned to go, as the sun spat out a small, black dot at the horizon. She only saw it in the corner of her eye and her violated mind told her this might just be another disappointment.  _Stubbornness always had told the better ones. ..._  
Chief Moana almost threw herself off the canoe, to spy what it truly was.  
It made her heart stop.   
" _F-father. ..._  ". New found strength filled her lungs. "Father!  _Come fast!_ "

She loved those stories. ... 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who wondered what the Motonuians (?) sang,  
> here's the text I threw in a translator. : 
> 
> "Who goes there past the shore?  
> Is is Sina. I can see her.  
> Yes, it is Sina.  
> Yes, it is Sina. The wind carries her away.  
> We remember her.  
> I know her name."


	6. Iska

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Iska" is meaning wind.

 

The sun burned down, as if it was dropping its anger for Maui on them, and formed the ocean in a steaming reflection of the sky. No breeze. No sound. So hot.  
At least the gleaming fireball would sink down soon, though there was no hope for healing anytime soon.  
Neither for Tui, nor his daughter. He had calmed down a long time ago. Now he sat quietly, and alone in the shade of the tapa.  
His hands were still holding on to the small token and his fingers traced along its flower-pattern.  
Sina. Her name stood for  _blessed_.  
She had been.  
Sina had been a saint in his eyes, blessing him with kindness, her gentle nature and a child, combining the best of both of them. Tui could still see her sitting next to him, with a silent, knowing smile.  
  
_"... Moana did make her mark in our history, but she is still on her way ... ", Sina had said. " ... remember how_ _you always tried to outrun your age? ... "_  
_" ... lucky, I didn't succeed. ... ", he had responded._  
_" ... Tui. ", she had cupped his cheek. " ... Moana followed her instincts before. She chose to fight alongside the gods and saved our world."_  
_Trustful eyes, her long, tied up hair tingling his arm. " ... Whatever Moana is fighting now, she will overcome it on her own._  
_She_ has _to succeed."_  
  
She always had looked so beautiful. Tui wiped over his eyes and tried to smile.   
He could still feel her soft fingertips on his skin, as the memory of Sina looking softly at him, slowly departed and faded into darkness.  
So the circle around his family grew tighter -including only him and Moana. He'd let no harm come to her now.   
She was everything he had left of _her_ and he would not allow  _anyone_  to take her as well.   
Even if it ment standing between her and a god.

"Father!"

Moana’s strong call lifted his spirits and he felt his cramped neck. He had sat here in the dark for several hours and hadn't moved at all. His muscles had a clear response to that, but he did not care.   
He took a deep breath and bound the only remains of Sina to his tapa-bracers-  _Small mountains in bloom._  
Tui pushed himself to his feet and the tapa-carpets aside. There his daughter stood, no,  _danced_  on one spot, bouncing up and down and pointed violently toward the wide blue. Tui found his way to her side and soon all his struggle echoed away.  
Moana got jumpy and squeezed her father tight.

\--------------------

The journey had already been arduous for the Motunuians and made them vulnerable to the smallest  
sign from above. Moana had reestablished their faith by spreading wild stories about the old gods, that they thought elder Tala would guide her words. Wind and Sea had demonstrated how little their lives mattered to them and not even their chief - chosen by the ocean - could ease the gods’ anger.  
  
Come to think of it, the young chief had led them here and they still had faith in their friend, she was family  
to them after all. Her clear and sometimes bold voice had been heard so many times, carried by wisdom and dream. Now her tone had more resemblance with a howling lemur, who's bushy tail was stuck between two glowing rocks.  
  
Many eyes were locked on the horizon where a small and lax sail was spat out by the red sun, like it had changed its mind about a late snack. The Motunuians rushed to their flank, climbed the sails and masts, to get a better view on the Demigod. The one who had angered the sky and now snatched a blessing out of the sun's throat.  
  
Maui, Demigod of the Sea, stood to his full size on top the longboat with a bold expression. A rein of tapa was wrapped around the mast and ended in the mouth of one small whale, pulling them over the ocean.  
Carefully carried in his left sat a woman, who seemed small and fragile compared to him.   
Sina spotted her cheering people and a serene smile formed on her lips. She laughed huskily and small drops fell down her face.  
She gave a wave, almost losing her balance, and held tight onto the Demigod.   
The woman didn't mind the closeness, as if it was natural, but Maui had trouble ignoring the sudden cool fingers squeezing his jaw.  
"Dont! ... don't. ", he mumbled to her, as he shoved her hands somewhere lower. " .. Just .. don't try to mess with the groove here, please?"  
Sina rolled her eyes in confusion.  _What?_ "Of course.", she responded.  
"First impression- you know? .. uuh..", when he further thought about it. " -Second ... Very important too ." He coughed.  
"Absolutely." Sina lifted her eyebrows at him and nodded.    
  
Maui sneered toward the flotilla in search for the loudest and happiest laughter the world had ever known.  
There was the smile he had wanted to see. Moana wildly rowed her arms at them, like drowning in gratefullness and jumped up and down like a puppy. He sighed. So beautiful, all those happy faces - except for this big ape with the visage like someone just had died standing close to Moana. His smile dropped dead as he remembered that face, it almost felt like he didn't like him?   
_‘What is_ his _problem?_ ’  
  
"Mom!", Moana called out to her. 

For Maui, the young chief’s happy call took down the cheering of those other humans by far, as if he only wanted to hear her.  
This one particular smile that formed on his face while having his senses fixed just on Moana was observed by careful eyes below.  
"Thanks for the help, bud'! ", the shape-shifter saluted at the whale and let go of the tapa. The mammal gave a friendly wave with its flipper and was gone.  
The moment he placed Sina in her family's arms, he felt many staring eyes on him, going under his skin.   
Mini Maui prepared his hands to diverge the little choir basking in the sun on his chest. Just in case.   
  
Maui took one step on the canoe - the Motunuians backed away instantly - he did not mind them.  
Like countless nights before the family came together after being ripped apart again. Tui took his wife out of the stranger’s arms, tenderly pulling her close. He eyed the huge man from time to time with an expression Maui could not read.   
"Oh, thank the stars! You're alright!"

Moana was thrown around by emotions, as she held her mother and father - her small world - tight.  
She had seen him disappear, burying a loved family member by his recklessness and even had scared away the wind.  
Now he was the one who brought Sina home.  _Fate be damned with its games._ Her father’s gaze was in Moana’s back, when she turned away to rush towards the Demigod. Wheezing she spoke his name. His low chuckle stuck halfway in his throat, as their foreheads’ touch took its moment.  
_... Moments._  

  
  
The crowd around them whispered excitedly. Most of the people gathered around the buff man and their young chieftess. He was just like Moana had described him. This man, towering above everybody else like a mountain, aroused not only amazement, but something Maui didn't want at all. They had seen what he could do. They had witnessed and felt how powerful and dangerous his strength could become.   
Mini-Maui let his hands sink down again, as the crowd refused to make any sound, and the Demigod felt it. Fear.  
He would not let this stop him though. He was used to it, and he had Moana still at his face.   
Moana was speechless, verbally and physically. Everything had happened in such a rush. The pain she had felt had been  _real_ and still pounded heavy in her chest. She could not say if she would've been able to live with the fact, if the one friend she felt a deep connection to was responsible for her mother’s death. The things she had felt about him and the ocean poked her mind softly and she dropped to her feet. She'd remember this lesson too. She never would doubt him again.  _Never._  
  
" _You're late._ ", she breathed with sparkly eyes. His grinning was only a hint of what Moana could expect after.  
"Nyeh, I had a little help.", he stated proudly. "Not like some _thing_   else would've been much faster."  
Bubbles poured next to him.  
"Fart-Joke.", unamused he eyed the ocean. "Really?"  
Moana chuckled.   
  
"Maui?.", it was Tui who spoke in a proud voice, still he didn't let go of his wife. He apparently had something important to say, but he could only gather air.   
"Nah, no need to thank me!", Maui cut him short with an overzealous tone. "You're welcome!"  
  
Then the Demigod winked at Sina and eyed her belly.  
"And next time you think  _twice_  before you go swimming, right Mrs. Curly? Almost spoiled the end of  _this_  story!"  
Hei-Hei’s muffled, high-pitched crowing from inside the tapa-basket accompanied the many pairs  
of eyes on their fast journey to Sina. A woman coughed. Tui threw his head in an instant towards his wife,  
after he took a while to get what Maui had meant. "What?!"  
Maui's restless looks were thrown back and forth.  _They did not know._ Moana also had a hard time to cope with that information.  
"Woops.", he only managed to say. Mini Maui face-palmed.   
  
Nobody had managed to say a word, when Sina burst out in amused laughter. Maui had not expect that at all.  
It was a happy laugh and filled the mute air with life. It seemed like she woke her people up, because only now they started to break their silence.  
Happy words were exchanged. They gathered around them, even outgrew their fear towards the Demigod, but were still cautious.   
  
They had spoken of a funeral, but with Maui’s help the night was going to be a cheerful time.  
Moana had not forgotten she had invited him to  _honor their voyage with his presence_  and already had declared her deep respect to him.  
They didn't chant his name, but they did prepare something at least.It was fine by him! After all, he was the one who had started the mess in the first place and he hoped nobody would bring that up. The Motunuians were as excited as Maui was and prepared the feast in the shortest time possible.  
Few brave who approached him did actually talk to him.  
  
He didn't come around even enjoying some attention from the ladies. He did manage to lure a few out of their wariness with little help of his bragging and flexing. He was bombarded by giggles and certain looks. Men always used to drag their wives away from him in the past, so this only slightly amused him.  
  
Maui was sitting next to Tui and Sina in the front. His huge Fish-Hook carefully leaned at his side and he held a coconut-cup in his hands.  
He eyed it strangely.  _Why do they always have to come in a set. ..._ "Told 'ya. This worked out just fine.", he hushly whispered to Mini-Maui who also seemed to enjoy this.The Demigod tried to remember how such feasts were working. Drums, dances, singing,  _food._  
Parties like this didn't change in the last 1000 years much, did they? First the nice little dances, looking all important, then he'd eat and drink as much as he could.  _Right?_ ‘ _Right. Good plan.’_

"Bayyanannu!" a woman sang the command out of the open and startled him in his thoughts.   
The area in front of him, were carpets of tapa adorned the deck, was suddenly filled with pretty girls in dancing-gown.  
Mo was the leading part and stood right in the front with a steely expression in her eyes. He forgot about the food and that his coconut-cup was still filled.This was something he really didn't want to miss out a second.  
  
Moana did not want to do this, but tradition demanded of the chief’s first daughter would lead this welcoming dance.  
Of course she stood above this little incident and she wasn't sure why she was so shy. In fact she had no reason to be! She was a good dancer and timed her steps in perfect harmony with the rythm of loud drums. Moana had performed and taught dancers for some years now, but how  _he_  stared at her - making princessy mimics only she could see - just to mock her.  
_‘Stop it.’_ , she mouthed at him as fast as she could and fought the urge to snicker, instead she grunted. ‘ _Oh, thank the gods, the drums are too_ _loud for anyone to hear!’_  
  
Maui leaned back and enjoyed the show, but mostly himself, while Moana was forced - _kinda_ \- to dance in his honor just one arm-length apart.  
Something seemed to bug him though. Maybe it was because of the only person on this entire party, who didn't feel any curiousity towards him.  
Chief Tui had not talked to him, not personally thanked him or shown any kind of greatfulness. He just sat there, his attention fully drawn to his wife.  
He wouldn't let go of her shoulder - like he wanted to shield her from the shape-shifter. Maui didn't show that it bothered him. ... A bit.   
_‘He'd grow soft in time’_ , he thought overly confident and kept giving Moana little signs to make her grin.  
  
Demigod Maui was not aware of the careful watch of a certain wall-flower.  
Sina had watched the emotions in his gaze like a lioness guarding her cub. The pregnant woman didn't see him as a threat and there was no spite in her eyes, only curiosity. He was a jerk, but she knew many and something about him made her wonder. She had heard from Moana he wasn't born a Demigod, so Sina figured he must've had some old losses buried deep down under all this skin and bold behaviour.  _Was he lonely?_  
Sina carefully turned her head to him and tried to read the carpet on his skin. The only thing that wasn't covered was his broad and cheeky grinning face and his right shoulder. ‘ _Odd’_ , she didn't think anything by it.   
  
Later that night, when most of the people had withdrawn to lie down, Maui resided under the starstruck sky and waited for Moana to bug him.   
Her father had pulled her aside whenever she had started to lock her eyes on him. Maui emptied his cup, hurled it carelessly so far away it didn't even made a sound when he saw it hitting the water.  _Yet._  A game he used to play by himself while he was trapped on that lonely bunch of sand and rock. Throwing stuff far, far away and waiting for the sound of something dipping into the water to reach his ears.  
He had been very bored back then. As he was now. Ruffling behind him signalized him company and he was glad his waiting finally came to an end.  
He gifted Moana with a greeting smile.

The young woman let herself fall next to him with a huff.  
She was tired and drawn out from what had happened today. She welcomed the silence Maui was granting her. Two skies rivaled with their own version of black and stars. They surrounded the dying torches, marking the egdes of the canoes, where their silhouettes were only two black pillars.   
"So.", nagging her voice tore apart the carefully set up quiet between them. "Did you enjoy yourself?"  
"To the fullest! Thank you for noticing!", He revealed his tooth gap in a wide grin. "But you seemed to have some fun for a change as well!"  
True.   
But the big concerns of her father had been everything else. She remembered him advising her to be more cautious with the gods. Even and  _especially_  with Maui, whom she knew and trusted with her life. She wouldn't let the controversy she had had with Tui ruin this moment. So she kept quiet about it.  
Silence fell again, when Moana asked carefully: "How long did you plan to stay with us?"  
Maui turned to her, his curls falling on his chest. "Don't tell me you want to get rid of me already.", he joked, still affected by the few more cups and nice time he had had. "Oh, I can't wait to be left alone again!". Moana nudged him friendly in the left flank.  
He giggled roughly and circled his right shoulder, massaging his biceps. Moana saw it.  
"My mother said you were hurt.", she told him. "Is it bad?"   
"Pffft. Nah.", he shrugged as if it wasn't worth mentioning. "May .. just have overdone it a little bit. Don't worry."   
Moana glared at him from the corner of her eyes. "A little bit?!", apparently she meant the huge storm. "Just let me see your arm, okay?"  
"Woah, Shush!"  
  
The sudden noisiness was not meant for his wiped head right now and he tried to quiet her down, by pressing her face in his brawny chest. Moana fidgeted like a chicken. "The eve had been so nice until now. Don't ruin it, chiefy."  
Greedy she sucked in the first bit of air she could get and tried to free herself from his grip.   
He held her like a stuffed toy. Their reflections on the smooth surface of the nightly sea fused into one single pillar.   
"Mau~i!", she hissed in a last attempt to regain her freedom and stopped fighting him.   
Her giving in was what he wanted and that's when he let go.   
  
Still his strong scent in her nose, she growled in defeat and could not bring her heart to stop running in circles.   
Maui had been somewhat quiet. She could read in his features, that there was something bothering him. She didn't know if it was because he did infact feel her father’s resistance in having him around their people. Or could it be something else?  
Her eyes fell on sudden movement around his arm next to her. Mini-Maui frantically gestured with his arms and tried to tell her something.  
_What is ts?,_ she asked with her eyes, but the caricature only covered it's mouth, when Maui spoke.   
"So. Now that we're alone...  "  
Moana almost swallowed her tongue.  
"... There are a few things you should know."  
"Mhm!", the young chief responded, still distracted by Mini-Maui's dancing. "I mean. .. What?"  
"I know! I know!", he turned to her with a serious look and lifted his hand. "I understand you had your little reasons to go completely nuts on me."   
She stared at him with parted lips. ‘ _Is he serious?’_  
" .. So I understand that you are _awfully_  sorry, and I forgive you this little outburst."   
Moana narrowed her eyes. ‘ _He is serious.’_  
" ... Buttering up our friendship by throwing a decent feast for me is a nice thought by the way - keep that up."  
The young chief couldn't deal with his blabbering any longer. She really appreciated their time together, but she could not prevent her head meeting with her hands."Maui. Get to the point!", she moaned.  
He cleared his throat.   
"That big, red crown of yours ... ", he paused. "You know? The poofy one? Kinda suits you."  
Moana frowned and wrote it off as one of his excuses, so he hadn't to tell her what was going on. She did know what crown he was talking about, though.  
It was odd that he would bring that up now. Why? Then it hit her like a stream of cold water. How did he know how that particular item looked like? Could it be?  
"Maui, did you go through my things?!" Moana groaned.  
"What?! No! What kind of nuts did you inhale?", he claimed kind of shocked, she'd expect something like that from him. "You have a dirty mind!"  
Maui shuddered at the pure thought of it. Sniffling through the things of a little birdie like Moana was a bit creepy, even for him.   
Moana had grown, it was obvious, but Maui felt like ignoring it. He sighed, starting anew. "What I was trying to say was. I visited you."  
Moana’s expression crumbled with every word her friend just told her and held his gaze for a while. "A lot.", he continued.  
"I was there, when you taught your people how to sail in the reefs. How you climbed up that mountain everyday ..."  
Her blood shot into her face as she remembered the awfully embarassing moment, when she cried out Maui's name in her weakness.  
She covered her eyes and feared her cheeks would gleam like embers. If he had been there all the time, then he clearly saw her little outburst at the shore.  
"I- I don't understand. ... ", Moana was confused and felt the anger take over again. "Why? Why didn't you show yourself to me?!"  
He just turned to her and put his palm on her head.   
Despite the mocking gesture, his tone was sensitive. "We said, we'd see each other  _out here_.", he explained and let her fix her hair.  
"I was very glad when you finally decided to leave that dull island. I know every corner of it by now."  
"Uhm. What?!"  
Of course she'd be angry. He didn't expect anything else.  
Chief Moana wrinkled her nose and sneered at him in disbelief. She had wanted to demand a better explanation from him, but again, she spotted Mini-Maui, desperatly pointing toward his right shoulder. "By the way, whales are such douches ... "  
Moana let go of the discussion and didn't listen anymore. It clicked in her mind, when she suddenly understood what Tiny had wanted to tell her the whole time. His arm. His shoulder. Something was wrong with it and didn't recall something being different before.  
"Look.", she tilted her head back, as if she just saw a shooting star.  
"What." he followed and Mo withdrew into his shadow behind his back. Mini-Maui pointed very upset to his blank shoulder.  
Blank. It was blank! Where the story of how Maui had harnessed the wind should be, was just an empty space. The hawk was gone.  
In his astonishment her alarmed voice came from his right behind. "Maui?!"  
"What?!", he hurled around.  
"Your hawk. It is gone!", cool hands touched his upper arm.  
"My  _what_?"  
At this question Moana and Mini-Maui eyed each other in disbelief. The tiny one was just as shocked as she  
was about his somewhat calm response.  
"Your.  _Hawk_. You know?  _The Giant Hawk!_ ", Mo jumped to her feet an spread her arms like wings as if that would make anything better.  
It did, but rather in a comedic way.  
"... You are scaring me, Mo. What are you talking about?". he raised an eyebrow, but she wouldn’t stop looking at him like that.  
"You really should lay down for a while.", he suggested slightly worried. "No need to be scared. It's not like I suddenly grow a pair of wings and fly away." Mini-Maui was exhausted from all the stuff going on and fell backwards into Mini-Mo's canoe.   
The hawk was his favorite form. She knew it! It made him the god of the wind. What if that's why there had been no breeze for hours?  
_‘Oh, Maui. What did you do this time?!’_  
Moana had had enough. She took his face into both hands and stared him down. "Maui. Drop it!"  
Curly suddenly seemed so grown up. "What _did_  happen?"  
- _Blubb_ \- There was the sound Maui had waited for.

 

 

 


	7. dõgara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "dõgara" means trust.

_When Maui had decided to leave the godly realm for good, the gods had done nothing to stop him. They had only_ _watched him changing the world they had created for their own. In their slumber they used to observe the dream of life and_ _its many possible outcomes. Through the ages of existence only a few voices had reached out to them loud enough, but still_ _gentle humming like a mothwing. Those who remained worthy were granted the favor to shape the world further.  
Demigod Maui had not been the first and of course wouldn't be the last. ..._

 

Maui knew what the fog meant, but had no intentions of telling Moana everything. He was certain Moana would only intervene to please her helper syndrome, if she knew too much. So he span a story that would get her off his back. Still he had no idea how Mo could assume he could do everything. Well, of course he could!   
He was the Demigod of the sea! He could do a lot of things, but he was sure flying wasn't one of them.  
  
How she had looked at him, caught in a state between panic and paralyse had convinced him that it might be the truth.  
Maui couldn't accept that it also had ...  _P-panilized ... paraliced? p-paralazyced? ..._ him. This damn ocean-fart-cloud had stripped him and of course he was eager to stop this from happening again! He kind of felt naked. Exposed, like this buff one from last night who he had adressed as  _beach-boy_ , but turned out to be a woman. Yet the other part of the story -the one he kept to himself- still choked him.  
He knew he couldn't stop the inevitable, if he wanted to stick to the old plan. ‘ _Do you still want it, though?’_  
Eyed by Tiny, Maui slowly turned his head to the tapa-carpets and caught a glimpse of the young chief, who he had grown so fond of.  
From all the humans he had come to know, this particular, little dolphin had painted a new kind of view in his mind.  
  
She and her father were surrounded by only a few elders. The slack had lasted for hours now and started to worry the people.  
To prevent a rising hysteria, they had decided to keep it quiet. "We can't sit here and wait until it gets better.", said Tui in a hushed tone, sweat dripping from his nose. "We are too far away from Motunui to make it back, or we'll starve. I thought about sending 4 wayfinders to look for land."  
" ... Scattering around the ocean without any wind would take too long and would only cost rations.", an elder said.  
"And we shouldn't rip our people more apart, like it already was ... "  
"The gods are angry with us, because we sided with the Demigod.", threw another in.  
"The ocean is still with us. It has kept us alive in the past, so it might do so again."  
"Maybe it is testing us?"

Moana stared in the air with a frown and chewed on her lip. She thought about last night what Maui had told her.  
She knew bringing Maui up now would annoy her father, but it was important to tell them everything she knew.  
Moana hoped Maui wouldn't be angry with her and raised her head in order to find a fitting pause and spoke.  
"There might be another option. ... I sat in coucil with Maui last night and ...", Moana began.  
Despite some clear disagreeing faces and the displeased look of Tui, nobody interrupted her.

"He told me the fog we encountered was responsible."  
"How?", Tui wanted to know and wiped over his eyes.   
"Maui said it is a curse, sent down by the gods.", she explained.   
"A curse to whom?"  
"It seems to only effect magical beings and monsters. So I believe ... "  
"How can we be sure Maui isn't responsible for it?"  
Moana shook her head and a small sunspot fell on her.  
"Because it changed him too! It prevented him from using his hook.", she said.  
"It even took one of his spells away - the hawk!"  
The elders started to whisper and mumble. Moana gasped of relief.  
"He wouldn't do that to himself. ...  _Believe me._ "

  
Maui had risked so much for the people. Her people. Even if they always had turned on him with every,  
new generation, she deeply believed Maui still loved them. He'd never admit it, but she knew how compassionate he wished for them to love him too in some way. Or at least to accept who he was. _‘I already have’,_  she thought and felt a little spark inside her, ‘ _so they could too’._ She wouldn't allow it to become anything else.  
"But, what does it mean?", asked an elder woman.   
"His tattoos show up, when he  _earns_  them, by doing deeds. You know the legends, about how he harnessed the breeze?", she looked into many eyes to be sure all of them were listening carefully. "This story is gone. That's why the winds won't blow, and .."  
Now that she spoke it out, she felt a deep compassion for him. " .. he even forgot this story!"  
It must've been hard for someone like him, losing a part of his title. Even if he didn't remember it, he clearly seemed to miss it.  
Tiny did obviously. Now should've been the time for anyone to speak positevly for her friend.   
"Moana. The Demigod's problems are not relevant right now." ", her father spoke softly, but she felt he would not let go of his opinion about Maui being dangerous.   
"When we help him, we help ourselves!" she argued and found it difficult not to sound angry.   
"Bar shi!" Tui scolded her. The gesture he did with his hand to calm her down angered her even more. He still couldn't listen to her, even after Maui had brought her mother home safe. Wasn't it enough? "Sina is alive!", she spat growling.   
Moana tried her best not to shake. She never thought drawing a line between family-fighting and arguing in council would be that hard. "If not for Maui." The young chieftess drew her eyes from Tui and glared around.   
"Do we say, this is how we'll repay him?" She didn't know what it was that made the elders look around, like a fire fish just had shown its thorns. Was it her voice? The well placed words? Or the kind of authority her father used to speak out his orders?  
Almost worried she might've stepped out of line with this one, the elders looked at each other and Tui sighed deeply.

  
"Chief Moana, there is wisdom in your words." said the elder named Akoni.  
"But how do we,  _only humans_ , help a Demigod?"   
Old eyes lay on her like moths being drawn into torchlight.  
"The same way I did.", she said and was enlightened by a sunbeam again.  
"Dragging him by the ears."  
  
After the banter Moana had informed the elders of the other option, she had mentioned. Maui knew the stars and where the next island lay. So with him pointing in the right direction, while he dragged his - _oh she hoped so_ \- sorry souths and all her peoples canoes over the ocean. The council had felt like it was a good lection for the shape-shifter, to be more careful around the people in the future.  
"No."   
The Demigod pouted and ignored Moana in searching for some food he didn't had all day.   
"Maui! This is not a request!", Moana dodged the end of a banana, he carelessly threw away. "The council has agreed for you to stay _only_  if you help us!"   
"I already did!", he arrogantly came back at her. ‘ _Ouh, chicken’_... and it was gone.   
"And If you think you can play the guilt-card on me, I did what I could!", Maui pointed at her with a stiff octopus.  
"I always do!"   
Moana huffed, patting the animal out of her face.  
"I know that, Maui!" she mentioned. "But I also know you can do more! And right now, we need your help!"  
"I didn't say I'm not willing to help my fans - hold that." he placed some papaya on her chest and stuffed the meat in his face.   
"I'm just not gonna let some sloths put a leash around my beautiful body."   
Moana paused a bit. "Is .. Is that all? Or Is there another reason?"  
"Nope!", he answered amused and ate the papaya whole. "That'll be all." He clapped in his hands as bidding her away.  
Moana stumbled and angrily tightened her fists.   
"By the stars, Maui!", she barked and reminded herself of being more decent.  
"Do you have any idea in what kind of mess I'm in, because I spoke out for you?"  
"Yep."  
"What?", she faltered.  
"I pretty much heard the whole thing.", he admitted casually and sat down in the warm sun.  
"I didn't get a public invitation, so I figured not to lift the curtains too much."    
Moana rolled her eyes and moaned. "You were eavesdroppping on us?"  
Maui didn't respond to that, instead he scratched his chest. " _Maui, you-!_ " Moana pressed her mouth shut, to prevent herself from loud cursing.  
Her long, dark curls swirled around, as she tried to find something to throw at him. Banana scales were lying around as well as several used cups and a halfway eaten pork. From time to time Moana would stare into nothing once a very good idea would kiss her mind. She curled her lips.   
"Well. Okay!", she shrugged and smiled at him happily. "Here I thought you might like the idea of another feast in your name. But apparently, you're all partied out! So, bye!"  With that she turned, or a grinning grimace that formed on her face would reveal her plan.  
She only did one step.  
"Feast?"  
_‘Got'cha!’_  
"Yeah! , she managed to swallow the joke only she understood and faced him again, her arms behind her back.  
"I though about .. I don't know. Some  _legend_  singing?"  
Maui was still being lazy and scratched himself with a clean fish-stick, playing like he stood above it all and signaled her to raise the offer.  
"Haka and jiggling-torches!", she scoffed dry.  
"No room for it.", he snarled.  
"Once we find land, there'll be."  
"Hmmm."  
That was a fair and just point, Maui had to admit and opened his eyes, looking at the figure above him bathing in sunlight.  
He still remembered the day she first stood before him. With baby-fat and milk teeth and all. Now she seemed to have get rid of those in only one year. Still she had the same spark of youth in her eyes, but this time she smiled at him like an adult.  
He hadn't noticed at all. It reached him deep below, touching him where it had usually been quiet. He didn't realize he was staring at her.  
"Deal?"  Moana asked slightly confused and strechted out her hand.   
Maui grunted amused and chuckled. He couldn't refuse touching her and shook it.  
"Deal."   
"Yas!" Moana cheered in victory and shadow-boxed the air.  
"I'll go and inform the elders! You pick some wayfinders to tie you up."  
He squeezed his eyes at her and blew his nostrils. Pouting on the outside, his inside was rumbling like he ate a bad banana, which he didn't.  
Maui grunted a good bye, peeking after her from the corner of his eyes as she left. This was so wrong. The sun had burned her shadow in his sight and he wished he'd forget this moment as soon as possible. Tiny poked him to gain his attention. He didn't want to look at him, still his curiousity was too overwhelming to what his little buddy thought about it.  
Mini-Maui had one foot on Moanas canoe, not sure if he should go or stay.  
"You're not helping.", the Demigod huffed and pushed himself up.   
"Well, let's check out the studs! " he paused. " Hm .. I never believed I'd say something like that."  
With a low  _Zthp!_ -sound a red dot bit his arm and reminded the Demigod how deep the ocean was.   
A buff woman peeked out from behind the tapa with a long neck. She checked her surroundings if someone else was present and left her hideout playfully swirling the blowpipe between her fingers. A smirk curled around her decent lips, as she stalked alongside the canoe and celebrated quietly her little revenge. 

Growling Maui found himself in the arms of Bubbles again, as the ocean shoved him facedown back on the canoe.  
"Oy! Whath outh! My thuperior nothe!", he spat from behind soaked, silky hair and felt a cold water-whip patting his behind.  
Daylight was granted as deft hands pulled back his healthy curtains and threw them back.  
"Ugh, thak you!", he mumbled.   
"You're welcome."  
Sina’s voice rang like a soft chirp of a bird in his ears. It was kind of curious that the ocean chose to take Maui to her again and not to the spot where he fell. Maui felt like he was thrown from one ocean into another. Sina’s eyes stirred up something he had put down thousands of years ago. Actually he had accepted the fact. It was part of who he was! Still being confronted with his linage in any way  
made him wanna throw up again, like he did under water.  _So many bananas. ..._    
"Oh, it's you.", he mumbled boringly. "See anything you like?"  
"I do.", he heard her saying and sat down next to him.  
"Wh? Woah ... I'm flattered, Mrs. Curly!", actually he was a little grossed out. "But don't you think you should rather knit something?"  
"Do you really believe everything is about you?.", she hurled back in soft laughter, but seeing she actually hurt his pride, she added.  
"I apoligize, Shape-Shifter. ", she paused to think. "No. ...  _Maui, shapeshifter, Demigod of the wind and sea, hero of men._ "   
"And women.", he corrected her.  _But why wind though?_  
"How could I forget?", she rolled her eyes.   
"Don't know. Must be a human thing.", he rumbled. "Not bad though." He tried to lift a thumb and cursed.   
Sina chuckled amused.   
"Do you want to be alone?", she asked.  
"Yes.", he stated sarcastically. "I enjoy staring at objects, watching them grow on me."  
Moana’s mother let this one go by and cooled her feet in the ocean. Deeply sighing she leaned back next to him.  
She knew he watched her, for she was the only other one nearby who'd talk to him besides Moana.   
Maui witnessed the witty smile forming on her face.   
" _See anything you like_?", she imitated him.   
"You are a cruel person.", he muffled. "You and Moana. Both."   
Maui didn't come around to feel like he liked her. Not as much as Moana, but she had such a nice aura around her. Like floating in shallow water, gazing to the blue sky.  
"May I ask something?", she suddenly seemed very serious.   
"Ssure?", he frowned in suspicion. "I mean. .. Depends on what is is."  
"Will you take Moana with you once we reach the island?"  
The shape-shifter remained silent at first. That woman had more to her than met the eye.   
"No. Why?" he saw her mouth forming a thin line. With Tui's frosty behavior the Demigod assumed Sina having a similar opinion of him.  
Even after he had brought her home.  _Pity_ , he thought.   
" .. I won't take her away from you. Don't worry.", he sighed.   
"It isn't like that.", she reassured and bent down to him, her long braid touching the wood.  
"Ever since Moana came back, she seemed so  _off._ "  
_‘Oh, I know!’_  
Sina lost her point and started anew. "Anyway... I don't think she'd stay once we get there."  
Maui chuckled agreeing. ‘ _Oh, I knoooow!’_  
"She trusts you. ... I do too.", Sina closed even though she somehow had second thoughts about asking him.   
"So, please. Take good care of her."

 

 


	8. Gaskiya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "gaskiya" means Justice.
> 
>  
> 
> I hope this chapter is not so boring how I feel it is.
> 
> Action will come sooner or later.

They had to wait two days, because their whale had stranded and couldn't shake off the venom sooner.  
The Motunuians took it with humor. Lots of it. The young children had conquered their containment first,  
once they understood, that the legendary Demigod had not been able to move or to defend himself against their attacks. Moana and her mother often had chased them away and kept him company.  
  
Moana’s people linked their canoes to one huge chain of wood and sails for Maui to pull and when they were finally ready, the young chieftess felt like a huge ballast letting go of her heart. Now that she looked behind and saw her people safe. looked ahead and saw Maui ready to guide them, she knew everything was how it should've been all along.   
Two worlds she loved had become one. The chief breathed in deeply and threw her hair back. Without any wind it wasn't the same though.  
Moana still had no idea how she'd be able to get Maui back to his former strength. Were they supposed to go into that mist again to get it back or was it just a drop of lava in the cold ocean? Maui hadn't brought up a solution to it and had dodged her questions, so she was sure he still kept secrets from her.   
  
Moana made up her mind. She'd deal with this issue, once they had arrived and fortified a settlement on new land.  
Now all she could do was having faith in the ocean and Maui. The young woman hopped down from the mast, where she had tied up the main sail, and made her way to meet Maui, before he'd go swimming.   
  
Nobody knew who had tried out their skills with the blow-pipe, but Maui had the strong feeling it had been Moana.   
He couldn't be sure, still he wouldn't forgive her that easily, if she really had exposed him to look bad in front of hundreds of people. Maui had faced their mocking looks with great disapproval, when they had giggled behind his back.  
The shape-shifter knew humans would always start mobbing those they're afraid of and tried to stand above it all, for he had laid there too long. By not having to deal with it. Maui had thought about choosing wayfinders who had been the most quiet about the _blowdart-accident_ , but now he'd just prepare long and thick ropes by himself.   
  
Diving through many possible ways to retaliate, he didn't turn his back to the humans behind him while stooping, just in case.  
He didn't see Mo approaching and attached the tow to the front bow - the last one. ‘ _Oh, little chief Momo will be sooo pleased with me.’  
‘Maybe she'll let me play inside again!’_ , he thought grim.   
"Maui, Are you ready?"  
Maui said nothing and just glared at her shortly.  
Moana sighed. "For the last time, Maui. It wasn't me."  
"Then who else on this whole track would dare to do this to me?", he crossed his arms. " .. - except for  _Bubbles._ "   
Annoyed she wiped her hand down her face. She didn't feel like dealing with his stupid pride right now. Her mood and the day had been so nice until now.  "Don't be such a cry-baby, Maui.", she murmured huffing.   
His massive self made the canoe shake, once he turned to her, like what she said baffled him.  
"Th-P-Pah!" so much he was speechless."You wouldn't say that if you had had to lie around for 48 hours,  
while being laughed at and poked with sticks- In the butt and-" he paused coughing, looking in her  _innocent_  eyes.  
" .. other parts."  
"Maui-" Moana touched his arm he moved away instantly, like she just burned him.  
He turned his face away, hiding the little angry blush around his nose. Still he could see this image of her from a few days prior, like it had been tattooed in his inner eye.   
"Just ... Please do what we talked about and everything will be over soon, okay?", startled from his reaction, Moana tried to reason with him.   
"Do you mean the laughter?" Maui scoffed with a venomous grin towards her. "Or the leash you let your beloved minions put on me?" Her inner cord of patience snapped at this point and she buried her fingers tight around a strand of his black curls, tugging at it.  
"Hey, not the hair!", he protested. "Letgo!"  
"Listen here, you selfish prick of a quillfish!" Moana tore his face down to her eye-level, so her worse would reach this mushy brain of his.  
"I didn't risk the respect of my people just to listen to your whining about the consequences!"  
Maui stared at her, not able to comment her outburst. Dazzled by the way how her eyes sparkled when she was angry, he still listened to what she had to say. He didn't have any other choice. "You can't just show up around people, stuff yourself with attention and scamper with the tail between your legs, once you fuck things up!  _We_  welcomed you and the least you can do is  _respect_  our laws! So don't act like you're the poor victim here and take it like a  _real_  hero!" One last time she jerked at his hair and finally let go of him.   
Chief Moana didn't like the way he stared at her - one raised eyebrow, a displeased glare like he completely disagreed with her - and still frowning she left him.  
  
Maui grimaced gnarling, one foot tensly tapping on the wood. Mini Maui patted his chest to calm him down, but he wasn't in the mood.   
Moana had brought up a few really hurtful points and he knew he had so swallow all of it. He. A Demigod, destined for greateness had to listen to a puny council and their spoiled princess. She hadn't been that harsh on him since ... Well ... Forever.  
Maybe being chief now did change her way of thinking so much, her father would've loved to hear what she had to say.  
If that was how Moana really felt about him, then maybe the bundle of doubts he had about  _everything_  would dissolve into thin air sooner than later. It wouldn't be  _that_  bad, though getting there was the hard part. It wasn't like he never had dealt with these matters.  
Maui had been with women before, but never had allowed them to get too close to him on a mental level. Once he had been about to develop an actual thing, he had left them in a rush. Always and he wouldn't do it otherwise this time.  
  
Maui wasn't aging like the humans did. His whole apprearance had been stuck in his late thirties and that was a long time ago.  
Even for him. Being with a mortal, who die like flies while he had to watch and remain alone in the end, was a mistake he didn't want to repeat. So he'd stifle evey little spark of romance he felt toward anyone, just not to suffer from a broken heart. It scared him.  
Just like it had two years ago when Moana had faced Te Kā alone. She was too young with her almost eighteen years, practically still a child.  
A few days ago Maui had realized that she was about to grow into one of those girls, who he used to dabble with in the past and treated like ...  
Maui stopped himself from thinking this through. He didn't want to assoociate Moana to these girls in the slightest, as well as comparing her to them. No, he wouldn't let this happen, to himself and to her.  
Moana was his friend, although she clearly had some serious issues. With that he headed into the ocean,  
hoping the cool water would scare those darn memories away - it was warm.   
  
\---------------------

Chief Moana hissed quiet curses, her arms still tense from the quarrel she had had. She had no idea what Maui's problem was and why he accused her of blowing the dart. She even hadn't been near him anymore when it had happened. Plus, she had no idea what had gotten in to the Demigod. Was he just frustrated because of his missing tattoo? He used to take out his anger on her several times in the past and she wondered why he hadn't done so this time. Throwing her into the ocean in many creative ways. When she noted the little grin taking over her lips, she wrinkled her nose to shake it off.  
She wouldn't let the humorous past she had with the trickster outplay her anger, because it was her right to be.  
He hadn't only spat on her jugdement and authority, but also on her people!  _Minions_  he had called them.   
How he had said this single word buzzed between her ears, like a fly trying to find a way out. It diverted her from the now that she bumped into someone. "Wha- Oh!", startled she looked into Iida’s eyes.   
"Excuse me.", she apologized and huffed. She was glad Iida had volunteered to come with on this voyage.   
Seeing her, even in dangerous situations, was like driftwood before drowning.   
"No harm done.", the big woman took another look in her chieftess face. "Are you alright?"  
Moana breathed in anger. "Yes.", she nodded once, staring to the water being breathed into the air.  
She heard that the tone of her voice was clearly not matching with her answer. "No." and shook her head once.   
Iida didn't say anything and studied her face. She'd wait until Moana decided for herself if she wanted   
to lighten her chest or not. That's what she always liked about this woman. She was not difficult, always listening and was disillusioned towards problems or questions about faith.   
"URGH! What is WRONG with this guy?!", Moana’s sudden change of volume startled the big woman. One could see by observing her slightly tilting away torso. That or Moana’s voice ringed in her ears.  
"I do everything so he could stay here with me after almost two years and he keeps fuc-", she probably shouldn't curse so loudly with her father in earshot. " - He still does nothing to show even a bit of gratitude!"  
Roughly Maui started moving and shook the track to its core. Some baskets and chicken cages were rattling, fruits rolled around and fell into the ocean. Moana got her grip on the lines and angrily she exchanged a knowing look with her lady friend.  
"Did he do that on purpose?", she heard Iida asking.  
Moana blew curls off her nose and looked at her.  
"Ooh, you can always count on his sense of humor.", she stated sarcasticly.  
" _Non_ sense, you mean.", Iida’s voice was dry.   
"Hah!", Moana laughed. "Good one."    
  
The Motunuian canoe-chain sailed over the ocean, pulled by the huge whale who occansionly played with the biggest waves they crossed.  
Moana figured it was because he wanted to have at least a little fun in his penalty. It was in fact faster, but not as fast as being carried by the wind in their sails. From high above they almost looked like a huge snake-like creature. Moana bent over the egde, letting herself hang above sea level - Iida had a concerned look in her eyes watching her - to peek how the last canoes were doing. They had fortified their vessels with all the  
rope and sails they had to offer and still uneasy creaks ans squeaks of rubbing wood reached their ears. Moana feared one of them could snap.  
If that happened she had no plan B for it. Yet. The young chief bit her lip and tried to get to a fast conclusion that didn't involve the arrogant Demigod. At the same time she was happy to have her family still at her side and,  _Oooh_ \- Her coming sibling! Thinking about a little sister or brother filled her heart with warm humming and sorrow.  
  
What if they didn't reach their destination in time? What if Sina had to give birth on the open sea?  
Warm humming and sorrow had a child too. They called it impatience.   
  
"Maui!", Moana formed a shell with her hands around her mouth. She hoped it would reach him "Faster!" and tried to spy any kind of reaction from him. Nothing came back. "Ugh, I think he's ignoring me now.  **-MAUI! FASTER!** "  
The whale gave a rude wave with his fin, like saying 'you can stuff it!', but did as he was told. Again the canoes shook, the ties and ropes ached and Moana felt the gentle touch of cooling air on her face. It was no blowing breeze, but it was  _something_  and she enjoyed it anyway.   
Iidas eyes looked back and forth. "Do you think that’s wise?"  
"No.", she knew it. It could back-fire in the cruelest way. The young chieftess didn't need to ask anyone for advice if it was wrong, but she wasn't ready yet to put the good of the people above her own mother. She needed water, she needed shade and land. After days of rest, Sina in fact looked much better and stronger and even helped where she could. Almost like her pregnancy had given her more life energy.   
To Tui’s discomfort. Her father still was caught in the pain he had to live through. Moana giggled as she watched him fuzzing around her mother, like she'd break any moment. Chieftess Moana didn't know why, but the sudden image of the wise Te Fiti, the mother island appeared in her mind. Maui had stolen her heart to grant humanity the ability to create life itself, but had it been necessary? The ocean connected them with Te Fiti’s breath.   
Giving birth and creating life. ... Wasn't this the same kind of magic?  
  
\----------------------------------  
  
Maui needed a break! The rope between his jaws had scrubbed the skin on his cheeks and soft lips. He hadn't been on the surface for a long time and caught his dinner like any huge and mighty whale would do. He'd rather suck in algae and tons of seawater than honor Momo’s people with his presence again. He wasn't as pissed, as he had been a few days prior. Actually he didn't even know why he had been - and here the memory came back to him. ‘ _Ugh, thank you, brain!’_ Sometimes he got a short visit by the fishing wayfinders, who checked on the leashes. Moana didn't show herself once, which was the true reason behind his bad mood. First he was supposed to be careful, then faster and now he didn't even get a thank you?! The island he wanted to bring them to wasn't that far anymore, so it didn't matter if he took his time now. He shifted into a smaller body. Letting to of the rope between his teeth, he tenderly massaged his jaw.

  
Better go check if they didn't fall off the canoes, because of his  _gentle_  tugging. Maybe they had been lucky and only the one who tried out the blowpipe had been lost. Feeling a little bit better now, he emerged under an early, grey sky. Wondering if the clouds had shoved themselves across the firmament, his eyes fell on the canoes behind him. Someone was readying a boat, turned around and waved at him. As he recognized Moana’s curly mane, he sank down until his nostrils bubbled. He wanted to get out of the water, though.  
  
Moana felt remorse climbing over her mood like a little spider, when she saw Maui's head appear and disappear in the waves. She hadn't been sure if he even had wanted to talk to her after their little argument. Despite her urge to talk to him, she wanted him to blow off some steam first, for she had to all the same. She didn't understand why they couldn't get along lately. Moana knew he was a difficult and bold being, with a skull even thicker than hers and her father’s combined. When they slowed down and she saw the shadow of a shark getting closer, she climbed back on the leading canoe. What could come next - another argument or stretching silence between them - made her tired. Out of a spark his huge fish-hook was hurled on the wood first, then big hands heaved his heavy body on deck. His hair was soaked like a black carpet hiding his face and made her heart jump. He seemed outpowered from his efforts and it softened her eyes, eased her bitterness. Moana didn't know what to say that wouldn't peeve his temper again.   
  
"Did something happen?", he asked with a neutral tone.   
"No. Nothing."  
" .. pity ... Aeh, good, I mean."  
Addled she tilted, not sure if he was being sarcastic.  "How far is it by now?"  
"A day or two.", he answered somewhat weary and tend to his hair, combing it with his fingers. They remained silent a while, not looking at each other until Moana gave in to her guilt. "Maui. ... Thank you for your help." He paused, his fingers still wrapped up in his hair.  
"You're welcome." Maui’s response somehow sounded like cold truism, which seemed to shove her further away. She gloomed at the Demigod and traced alongside his tattoos. Mini-Maui was standing on his shoulder with big, sad eyes and widened arms, wishing for a comforting hug. It melted her heart.  The young chief’s limbs were wrapped around his neck from behind, as she nestled her face against his wet cheek. She felt how cold he was.

The shape-shifter froze under her sudden, warm touch, when she added "I am sorry for earlier." Maui made a  _Pfft_ -sound, but then patted her arms and chuckled. " ... Aww, you. ", he said suddenly and turned to her, playfully nugding her arm. "I did ask for it, didn't I ?" Was that an apology? It must've been.

Demigod and chieftess locked their eyes for a short time, but it was long enough for two little sparks to touch each other. Both looked away toward the sky before ankwardness painted their faces in a reddish color.  
  
On the last day of their journey, when the Island was just a tiny spot at the horizon, the people of Motunui determined Maui had done enough in their sake. He had guided them to their destiny how he had promised, though a few were still wary with him. So he was resting among them for the last hours as the ocean slowly carried their canoes closer toward a whole new world. But it wasn't how they had hoped. First it had been a thin layer of milk that surrounded the shores and towering cliffs.   
The island was covered in mist.

 

 


	9. Asĩri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "asĩri" stands for "secrets".

 

Together they stood on deck, threw wary gazes toward the island only one mile away.  
The wind’s ongoing absence filled the air with no sound. A  _nothing_  that would make the ears hum if one kept listening long enough. With Maui at her side, Moana looked past her people. The weary ones, Sina included, needed some real earth beneath their feet.   
Foggy banks covered black cliffs and the shores, obscuring what it might hold for them.  
Fresh fruits, or even a quell? Maybe people. Moana saw nothing special about the white soup.  
She had seen mist in her home bay several times before, and this looked similar.   
  
"It might be just normal fog.", she suggested, without looking at him. "What do you think?"   
"I'm not putting one hair on that rock." Maui frowned at it, like it had tried out the Kakamora-Blowpipe  
and crossed his brawny arms. Moana found it odd that the shape shifter wouldn't even consider this fog as harmless. Sure, it would be a risk for someone like him to get close to  _the fog_ , but this was clearly just white smoke. Maui was still glaring at the island, like it just said something personal and had done so in the past.   
"What?", she tended her head towards him and made big eyes, raising her brows. "Are. ..  _You afraid of it?_ "   
Maui's eyes became even darker and he lowered his head like an old, grumpy turtle, his black locks  
dangling over his chest."I. Am. Not.", he stated clearly. Tiny Maui nodded from behind Mini-Moana. " _Afraid._ "  
Chief Moana chuckled at him.   
  
The Demigod blew his nose, stomped away with wagging mane, but heard her tapping feet behind, as she followed him.  
Slightly amused he leered at her. ‘ _She's still walking like a toddler’_ , he thought. It wasn't a toddler though who looked back.   
" _Then why won't you come with us explorers?_ ", she smirked imitating his low voice and fist-bumped his massive arm.  
"With your pure strength we'd set up a camp very fast."  
Maui puckered his lips as if he considered her inspriring words. Then he sheepishly narrowed his eyes at her.  
"Ney, Thank you! There's nothing left for  _me_  to explore." he grinned at her confused look. "Already been here."   
"Yes, you mentioned.", Moana folded her arms and couldn't make sense of him right now. She could see in his eyes there was something holding him back or keeping him away and it was not about the fog. Something on this island was scaring him away.   
  
"So, what do you want to do instead?", she asked then and shrugged, relaxing her arms.   
Maui turned to her, ready to give a sassy answer and was caught by her sad expression for a moment, when Sina passed them closely.  
She touched neither of them, but had both her eyes locked with his for a sharp second. Moana couldn't see it, but Maui. The Demigod knew Sina must've heard part of their conversation and it felt like the mother wrapped her words around his neck. He had promised her. He hadn't said it, but he had thought it.   
Moana had reminded him to keep to his promises and he didn't like breaking  _this one_  in particular.   
  
"Mh?", Moana’s asking noise chirped in between the silence.   
"Oh, I don't know ... ", he started stretching his right arm. "Thought about checking the nearby island, if this won't work out for you."   
Exactly what she didn't want to hear. Moana supressed a sigh and lowered her eyes for a moment. "Oh, well."   
"So, no feast then.", she tried again and peeked at him.   
"Ah, yeah. 'Bout that.", he paused a bit to grab his hook.  
"Guess you were right ... 'Bout that _'all partied out'_  - thing, I mean. Not those other mean things you said about me."  
Moana rolled her eyes and shook her curls. The sigh she kept bottled up escaped in the end.  
"Pity.", she mumbled. "Here Iida was talking all the way about learning Haka from you. All the way only one topic.  
She said.  _'I need to learn that.'_  ... "  
" _Beach-Boy? Really?_ " , he wheezed giggling, but was unimpressed.  
"...  _She's not very talkative_  - Maui, don't go!", her sudden turning tone beat the hook out of his hands.  
" _IEKS!_ ", he squeeled startled, jiggled the slippery hook in his hands a bit, until catching it. " _Why you-_ ", but she wouldn't let him finish.  
"You don't have to be alone out there. Once our people are alright, I'll help you get your hook- I mean your  _hawk_  back."  
Moana put a soft finger tip on Mini-Maui's chest. "Both of you!". Tiny blushed.  
"Moana ... ", he shook his head and grunted.   
"No, listen. I think you'll be okay, if  _...  you don't bring your hook._ ", she explained and tried to make him look at her, even if what she just said only brought him to flinch away. Maui frowned in horror and put both hands on the hook, like it had ears. " _Moana! Language!_ "  , he started whispering to it. " _Sh-sh_  ... She didn't mean it, buddy ... "  
" _I know! I know!_  But hear me out!" she stepped closer.  
"It'll be only for a few days! Our people will have a settlement in no-time and you won't risk losing another story."  
"Woah, hold on, chief!", he poked her in the chest, squeezing air out of her lungs. " _Our_  people?"  
Moana closed her mouth. Did she really say that? ‘ _I did, didn't I?’_  
"W-well I thought. ... That's what you wanted? Y-You don't have to stay forever, of course, ... but -", she tried to explain, while the ocean inside her stirred something up from years ago.  
" ... Maui you taught me  _wayfinding_ , helped me restore the heart. You saved my  _mother_.", being honest with him felt good. Like cooling sore feet in the ocean. "Taking you in is the least I can do."   
Chief Moana’s words ended in a confident tone and that was how she looked at him. Maui eyed her, while scratching his scalp, seriously thinking about it.  "So, what do you say?", she smiled at him.   
  
The name of this island had been Omoa and its bare taste left a bitterness on his tongue he could not spit out. On the  other hand, how much could Moana discover in only a few days?  What could happen, If he'd stay with her, keeping her distracted from the secrets beneath the forest and stone?  
  
Maui looked from taunting, grey mountains into Moana’s pleading eyes, which seemed to become bigger.  
Moana felt like her arguments were hitting his right spots and her smile became a grin. Tiny was not amused.  
The little one wildly shook his head. Throwing the black dots back of forth - that were his eyes - between Chief Moana and his inner conciousness, the Demigod groaned. "I can't say no to that face."   
Tiny hung his head and whatever Moana had wanted to say, it was supressed bis his big palm which he pressed on her face.  
"Only _three_  days!" , Tiny held up three fingers.   
"And then we'll get your spell back!", Moana stretched out her fist towards him.   
The Demigod eyed it with one raised brow and amused returned the gesture. 

It took them two days to set up a suitable settlement alongside a rich bay.   
The island wasn't as big as Motunui and not as healthy. Moana figured it must've been infected  
by Te Kā's curse and was in the state of recovering. Her wayfinders worked hard to chop down palms and fern, to build their first huts. She could see in their smiling faces the excitemet this new land held.   
  
" _Tui, I am alright._ ", Moana heard her mother’s temper from afar, while she tried to help building a framework for a chicken-shelter. The young chief couldn't hear much, but from the looks of it, was her father very concerned about his wife’s well-being. Moana remembered him fuzzing all around her, when she was little and it lured out a giggle. Her family’s presence always gave her the feeling of being at home and safe. She started wondering if having her own family would do the same. Would she be like her mother? Still working, _venturing_   even if she'd be in a similar condition? How would her future husband react?  _Who_  would he be? Until now no man of her villiage had caght her eye to say ‘ _This is him!’_  It wasn't like they were _all idiots_  - most of them were - and those who were nice already were happy.  
  
Maybe keeping an eye out in the older generation could give her another option. Though the only one of the  _30's_  who had shown any interest in her was Iida. Moana knew this woman was different from the moment she had been born. Her mother had told her, Iida had been born 5 moments after her twin-brother. The boy had been healthy, while Iida had been small and weak, that the village healers  
feared she wouldn't make it. After a few days though, the boy had died and Iida had not stopped growing stronger. In time the village had come to believe the mana of her brother was living inside her. Iida had always been hard working and acted like a man should, in Moana’s eyes.  
Moana knew the woman had a special thing for her, but even if Moana would've been into women, she couldn't have children. Iida had spoken to her at some point about it, had made her understand so no evil blood could have a change between them.  
She always had been honest with her and the chief knew she could be trusted. So best looking for someone she could trust. It was a start.  
  
While the children played alongside the beach, with their care-takers’ careful watch, Moana kept searching the first two or three hundred steps of the forest in front of her. The vegetation was not as green and fruitful as on Motunui, but it would be enough to start a new village! Moana thought about calling it like her unborn sibling.  
_‘Whatever that might be._ ’, she thought bright spirited and went a little bit deeper into the foggy woods.  
The birds weren't loud, but they sang loud enough to reassure her safety. Here and there she found dark spots.  
Remains of the darkness that once held her world in deadly claws. Maybe  _the fog_  had something do to with it too?  
  
_‘It could be.’_  
  
Only a few hundred steps further - she counted them - , between palms and huge, green leaves emerged a wide glade, where nothing was growing. Raven sand and gravel paved the earth around a single standing wooden log with two holes in it, displayed like a totem. Moana closed in, her eyes and ears fixed on her surroundings. This place gave her chills.   
Just an old mossy, wooden lock, that had been here for maybe decades, was standing here. No traces on the ground, neither left by animals nor people. Moana was sure though, it had been people who had set it up a long time ago. Maybe 20 years?   
Alarmed the young chief left this place as soon as possible to tell her people about her findings.   
  
\-------------  
  
Maui was not happy with this decision. Not at all. He had no better solution though.   
Sina’s words and eyes still in his mind, he had no choice but to keep a very young chieftess close to him and to ... He inhaled deeply. To  _leave his hoo-_  ... He wanted to throw up.  
_To leave his hook in the hands of Bubbles._  
  
The Demigod had searched the ocean around the island for a good hiding spot. He took his time like saying good-bye time to his beloved  _Manaiakalani._ His first fish-hook had been given to him by the gods and had been a part of him ever since. Long years he had held onto it, collecting spells to make his story greater. He had come to believe without his hook he had been nothing.  Until a curly-haired wisecracker had proven him otherwise.  
Moana’s soft words resounded in his ears like it was yesterday.  
_"The gods aren't the ones who make you Maui. ... You are."_  
  
Bathing in a short spark, the shape-shifter emerged from the waves, looking toward the beach. The Motunuians had been busy in the meantime and set up some huts and shelters. He could see them tending to their canoes, animals and of course their families. Everyone was busy.  
  
Maui's eyes fell onto his mighty Fish-Hook, gave it a few last swings and turned toward the ocean with a grin.  
"Alright, Bubbles.", he said and reached his hook towards the gulp forming infront of him. "Take good care of him."   
The ocean touched the hook, Maui pulled it back and barked. " _ONE scratch and I'll drain you!_ "  
A huge waterfront swooping down and wresting the hook out of his hands was Bubbles’s response.   
  
Maui hurled back up, his soaky hair swirling around his visage. Scattered laughter by a few witnesses came from the shore but died when Maui glared back at them. Some faces were suddenly pulled back to whatever they were fixed on.   
"See you in three days!", Maui growled and stayed for a while, before he turned his back on it.   
  
Maui reached the encampment, when Moana returned with a pale and very tired face and wildly looked around.  
"Hey, chief. Nice eye-tattoos.", he greeted her mockingly. "You seen a ghost?"  
"Something like that. Have you seen my father?", she asked and kept looking.   
"No. ... ?", he frowned, suspiciously reading her mimics. " ... What? Did you find something?"   
Instead of answering, she started moving and hinted him to follow her a little bit into the fog, away from their people.  
When the sun sank down into her water bed, the young chieftess and the suspended shape-shifter  
wandered around and kept looking for Tui. "Maui, do you know something about any tribes living here?", she asked and leered at him.  
Mini-Maui blew his cheeks, kicking the dirt and had something very important to do behind Maui's back.  
Alarmed the Demigod raised his brows and narrowed his eyes. 

  
" _Yyes._  I do.", he figured telling her only half the truth would be the best option.  
"There used to be one small tribe, but they're long gone now."  
Interested Moana peered at him, hoping he'd tell her more without her having to poke further.  
It never had been any different. "What happened to them?"  
"'Dunno?", he shrugged. " ... Last time I was here they were already gone. ... ", that was true.  
Moana eyed him peerie. "When was that?"   
The Demigod grimaced with round eyes, blowing one cheek.  
"Uhm. One two years ago?" , that too.   
"And you looked  _everywhere_?"   
At this point Maui's defense seemed to crumble and he fought to keep it - by Lalotai - up!  
"Yes?", he lied.  
"Maui? Who used to live here?"   
This was a question he didn't want to answer for personal reasons and he thought Moana was being a little bit too nosy. "Nobody.", another lie.   
"Maui! I need to know! Our people-!", be began, but his snapping patience cut her short.   
" _I did,_ okay?" , he breathed and turned to her. It was true. "I used to live here ... "   
Moana looked into his touched expression, quite embarrassed by herself.  
She took another short look around and suddenly seemed very awake.  
" _This_  was your home?"   
Maui sighed deeply and turned away smiling, like calling it his  _home_  was laughable.  
" ... Before Te Kā. For a while ... "  
"Oh. ..." Moana looked to her feet as she started to understand. Maui had been living here at some point, maybe with this tribe he mentioned. When he had been exiled for 1000 years, those people had disappeared. "I'm sorry."    
"No need to, chief.", he gave her half a grin and shrugged, as if he could shake off what bugged him.  
" .. All idiots, I tell 'ya."  
Mo raised a brow. He could be charming from time to time - while being a pain. He had been a hero to them, sure and had his precious fans. Still Moana couldn't believe Maui had had nothing as close as friends among them.  
Why would he say something like that? For a slight moment Moana saw something she rarely had seen in his face. It was small, like the line that had formed above his eye. A memory that had scarred him.  
"Maui ... "  
Her hand reached for his, when a torch, held by a nervous Tui, came out of the jungle and approached them.  
"Moana! ... shape-shifter?"   
" _Mr. Curly?_ " he grinned at him.   
Moana boxed him.  
"Father whats wrong?-"  
"Have you seen your mother?", Tui didn't look at Maui. ‘ _Rude.’_  "I already looked everywhere! I can't find her."   
Maui grunted amused, but Moana saw how serious the situation was. "Have you checked the canoes?"  
"I have! Everywhere I could think of!" Tui now looked at both of them with. He seemed truly concerned.  
"I fear she got caught in the mist and can't find her way back."   
Flying curls, Moana turned to Maui. "Can you think of any places she might be? Caverns? Lagoons?"  
Maui thought for a moment. "There are many caverns alongside and near the beach ..."   
Chilled, he remembered "The ocean ... It'll flood them!"  
Tui and Moana started moving alongside the Demigod, toward their camp, not to lose any second.  
The sky was still fiery. "Send your search parties to the cliffs  _fast!_  We still have time! When the moon show's up its brightest visage, it's over!"   
  
Together they rallied the people to form search parties. They were enough to cover the inland to the south and the cliffs, while Maui covered the north. Tui and Moana lead the party sent to the northern inland.  
\------------------------------  
  
Sina didn't realize how late it was. The black, sharp rocks and fog around her made everything a   
boring grey. Like a bright, pink torch, the rare flower in her braid was the only thing of color.   
When the cooled down ocean had touched her feet, she had realised the raising water inside the hidden tunnel she had gone into. She couldn't quite remember show she had wandered off. It had been fuzzy, like curiosity had blindfolded her. In front of her was a fast blackness, a yawning tunnel. Its walls were rough, but some spots were smooth like polished by daft hands and white lines told a story. The carvings were faint, like it whispered in her eyes.   
  
Sina traced the lines with her fingers and narrowed her gaze. She saw. ... Sina thought, she could see  
elegant eyes, quietly looking back at her.  
  
_‘A woman. ... And her tribe. ... A huge snake? No’_ , Sina corrected herself. ‘ _An eel!’_  
  
Sina forgot the water, following her deeper inside the cave. She didn't feel threatened, though it might sound odd.  
She was not afraid, like something blocked it out of her mind. All she wanted was to know this story!  
  
_A long time ago, there were only the people on raw, steaming stone. Life was hard, because a monster_  
_lurked in the deep, scaring all the fish away and devoured those who dared to fish in his bays._  
  
One day though, the Demigod appeared and saw their troubles. He vanquished the beast so they could fish again and buried its remains in the black earth, to grow trees which would feed them. The people were grateful, but could not pay the prize he demanded.    
_So the people gave him one of their eldest daughters instead. Her name was ..._  
  
Surprised Sina opened her mouth, when a wave hit her leg. The ocean had increased to the point where she could not go back the  
way she probably had entered. Cold water got higher, flooded her legs and pulled back beneath her soles, so she found it difficult to stay on her feet. The waves at the entrance were too angry. With both hands on the lava rocks she tried to make her stand.   
  
"Sina?!", she heard a distinct voice. She could not identify who it was and she wasn't picky at the moment.  
"I-  **I'm Here!** " she called out as loud as she could, so the bashing waves wouldn't drown her voice.   
  
White smoke flowed around her, as the waves carried it deeper into the tunnel. Like a cloud it surrounded her.  
Splashing water far behind her whispered in her ears, like scattered voices. It might just have been the chill  
scrawling down her back, as a huge shadow appeared near the escape. Like it stood on the ocean.   
  
Black curls, broad shoulders, a waving tattoo-man and a grin she really needed right now appeared out of the whiteness.   
"Sina, stay still!"  
" **Say what?** "   
  
Maui rolled his eyes at her, as he lifted her up with only one arm, put her on his back, so she could hold onto him.  
Salty and ice-cold water poured against his broad chest, while the woman shielded her eyes behind his hair.   
It was nothing for him to get her out of the lava cavern, even if something kept distracting him by poking him in the back.   
Sina’s savior seized the cliffs bordering the stony hole in one last leap and hoisted both of them out of the water. Right now the water filled the tunnel and swallowed it beneath.  
  
Maui huffed relieved and let her gently to her feet.  
"Don't you think you're a little caught up in being the damsle in distress, your majesty?"  
" _Oh_ , shut up, Maui."   
"Yes, Ma'am." 

 


	10. da mace a cikin hazo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "da mace a cikin hazo" means "The woman in the fog"
> 
>  
> 
> WARNING!  
> Moana discovers something gruesome!  
> User discretion adviced!

Moana stepped carefully over the rocks and sticks beneath her feet. Evey noise could be a wild animal or her mother hiding somewhere. In the darkest corner she comprehended people might've taken her, but she wanted to have faith in Maui's word. When he was certain there were no other tribes here, she believed him. The chieftess sneaked step by step, a spear ready to jab out and defend herself, she tried to see something. Footsteps, cracked branches and leaves, dark spots in the foliage. Anything!  
  
She could hear the distinct voices of her father and Iida nearby. They had split up to cover more ground. The young chieftess didn't understand how fast her mother had disappeared and how far she went. She knew from her father that Sina used to repair rooves and climbed around the mountains while carrying her. Still this stretch seemed ... unnaturally far. Moana already had searched several caverns close to the beach. Didn't Maui say the'll be flooded? How was the ocean supposed to reach those inland? Were they connected somehow? With the sinking sun, the fog was like feint, white smoke, levitating around the trunks and making her hair stick to her skin. She couldn't use her eyes anymore and frantically looked to the sky to see how much time she had left. The moon was about to scare the sun away and showed his visage. There was still time, but it was not much.  
" _No, no, no, no, no ... C'mon._ ", she cursed and started to run.  
  
Moana didn't care anymore about lurking dangers. She had not time to be wary. If something was about to jump out, she'd be ready and it'll be sorry for stepping in her path. At some places the fog wasn't as thick and that's where she went. She hurried past palms and bushes, jumped over leaves and branches, like a flowing river, cutting the mist in two. She had enough of it already! A few days ago she had laughed at Maui for wanting to avoid it, but now, she could feel it on her skin herself. Something touched her like a spider crawling over. She hurled around with flying curls and the face of a warrior to face nothing but _fog_.  
  
The white pillar in front of her was not like the smoke around it. It was a shadow covered in something that prickled on her skin and made her hair stand. Moana withdrew from instantly, while not losing her stance. Heavy breathing and with wildly punding heart she stared at it. It wasn't just fog. It had no face, no limbs, no eyes, like a shade of someone who once was. This was a spirit and she was not sure if it was friendly or hostile. Sweat was dripping down her temple and before Moana could react, it moved. Like the smoke slowly wanted to test, to feel out what was infront of it. " ... What by ... "  
  
As she spoke it suddenly crumbled and a cool breeze ripped the fog apart and hit her face. Wind! Something she hadn't felt in more than a week! Between being alarmed and confused, she stared to the ground, following the track the wind had freed from the whiteness to a huge, mossy boulder. It wasn't as black as the rocks touching it and it almost looked like it was blocking out something. Moana took the helping hand who had been reached out to her and almost ramed the smooth stone, looking for clues. In fact, there were old sanding marks around it, like it had been moved a while ago. Not recently, but. ...  
  
" _Two years ... ?_ ", Moana whispered to herself and frowned. Her eyes wandered up the boulder. She hesitated for a moment. ‘ _What was Maui doing here?_ _’_ , she wondered and tried to find the best way on top. In her experience she knew there was sometimes a way out, if she kept looking up. Maybe there was a second entrance, something crumbling or weak! Maybe Sina had thought so too when she hid here.  
  
Moana didn't know if she could trust this strange wind or the fog, but it had wanted to tell her something important! What other option was there, besides giving her search up and return empty handed? The young chief placed her spear next to the lava rock and pulled her bare skin over it's rough shape. It scratched her several times, until she stopped grunting in her struggle. When she was finally where she wanted to be, two things fell into her disbelieving eyes.  _One_  was, this cave wasn't a cave. It was like a rocky snake that dragged itsbody from the mountains to the shore. Moana thought, it might've been the tongue of a vulcano.  _Second_ , there was infact a rupture in it's back and it was big enough for someone like Sina to climb inside. ‘ _If she had’_ , thought the chieftess, ‘ _then she must've had a very good reason.’_  
Maybe Sina had seen this strange apparition too and was hiding from it.  
  
"Mother?", she called carefully and listened. What came back could've been her mother, but also her own echo. "Mother?!"  
" _... Moana ..._  "  A feint answer got out of the hole and she almost lost her balance, so much she hurried to get down there. "Mom! Hold on!"  
  
Moana jabbed her spear between two egdes from inside the ashlike rock and carefully let her down at it's pole. She cried out, as her ankle couldn't cope the hard and uneven ground and snapped off. Moana hissed in pain, but faltered as every sound she made came back to her in form of demonic noises. With the feeling of dread, she suddenly stood, wiping her hair out of her mouth. The light shining through the natural ceiling wasn't enough to see right away and it wouldn't get better if she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. One hand still on her spear, she stared into the void. "Mother?!" Silence.  
  
The young chief exhaled and cupped her head. She had been fooled by her imaginations and her own echos. Hoping Tui or Iida, maybe Maui had more luck, she turned to pull herself up the spear, when her foot came in touch with something smoother than lava-rock. She checked and wished she hadn't. With a shocked wheezing, she backed away from the crystallized bones of a human leg. Only with much courage she could prevent her from falling and she pressed her back to the harsh walls. Her eyes got wider, the more they conveyed of the whole body sitting next to her. Moana breathed heavily and tried to calm herself. "It's just bones ... "  
  
When the first glimpse of the moon hit the remains, she forgot to breathe for a moment. Like a short insight what might happen to her own body in a hopefully far, _far_  away future, it would not be forgotten. The body was pale, like covered in salt and silky, white hair was wrapped around it's gaunt arms and hands like spider webs. She could not tell old tapa from skin. Around it, something seemed to cover the walls. Carvings, runes, desperate scratches, she could not tell and she couldn't keep looking at it. She could hear raging water deep down in the darkness. This one had probably drowned inside his or her home. A terrible way to go. An unforeseen sadness and sympathy took over and held her at the spot for a moment. ‘ _I am sorry._ ’, she thought, forbidding her eyes to water. ‘ _I don't have time for your story.’_  
  
Moana pulled herself back up and left without changing anything. The moon high up in the sky, she made her fast way back through a genlte rain. In her haste and worries for her mother, the young chief didn't even notice how the fog closed its scar around the entrance and settled closely to it.    
  
\-------------------------------  
  
It started raining when Sina and Maui stepped carefully, but as hastily as they could over roots, black sand and rocks. The Demigod was again surprised what energy this woman must've had and how feisty she had become. Sina called it a  _mother’s mana_ and apologized at the same time for her rudeness,  _You prick._  She kept leading their way after Maui had pointed them in the right direction. The Demigod thought it strange that a careful and sensible woman like her would bring herself in such a mess, like a carefree girl.  
  
Sina on the other hand was in a hurry to get to her family again. Everything had seemed not of this world at some point. How did she end up in that tunnel again and what she had seen on those polished walls gave her chills. Who had been this woman it spoke of? The chief’s wife almost tripped over her own feet, like the fog around them had her mind under control.  
  
"Easy there, Mrs. Curly.", the Demigod rumbled behind her. She stopped and eyed him a little bit annoyed.  
"Maui. I'm  _pregnant_  - not  _dying._ ", came from Moana0s lovable mom as if she wanted to shake him. "When I fall, I get up again."  
  
There it was what he liked about her. Sina had something around her - like a kiss of wisdom - what he had learned to value about Moana in time. She had raised Moana to know that after every mistep, there's the option of trying anew. Learning about their mistakes. Still how eager she stumbled over the earth as if she wanted to escape what lay behind, was not like her. "Pah, keep remembering that for the next time you can't hold still, while being carried around!"  
  
" _I_  didn't kick you.", she responded right away and Maui made a face like a whale in a hut.  
"Why am I not surprised?", the Demigod chuckled sarcasticly. "Like father like offspring. Probably hating me already."  
"Tell me one thing, trickster." her voice was soft, though strong like mossy bark. "Do you have any experience with marriage or being a parent?"  
  
She almost hurled him off his feet and the high wall he had carefully built up around one painful memory got a hole. Her eyes pierced over her shoulder like darts and found their way right in his guts and he stayed quiet. Tiny peered concerned to the giant, who got stuck in his tracks and grimaced at her.  
  
"... Thought so.", she turned around again, but kept explaining herself. "Tui does not hate you. ... He is ... just afraid to loose someone he loves."  
  
"Yeah. I actually got that. ", he growled and kept walking, stopping ahead. "I'm the  _shape-shifter_ -", he marked the word with four fingers. "who'll split his family in two. ... and so on. Thank you for bringing  _that_  up."  
  
Even if she already stated she could make the climb back by herself - how in fact did she get here in the first place? - he kept lending her a hand once in a while. "But not you, though." The woman looked at him with warmer eyes than before.  
  
"No.", she stated like it was the only logical way of thinking.  
" ... As for Tui. ... I think one thing he fears about you the most isn't Moana leaving with you either. ... "  
  
"That is ..  _not_  true!", Maui straightened his chest with a smug grin, fist-bumped Tiny. "Many daughters have left their home to get a piece of  _Maui!_ " He had wanted to support himself with his hook, but. ... ‘ _I miss you, brother._   ‘  
  
"Did they go back though?", came back from her. Awoken he looked at the woman like she had caught him with his hand inside the pork.  
  
"I  _guess_  so?", the Demigod couldn't figure her out at this moment and raised an eyebrow. Despite Tui's hostility towards him, Sina seemed very comfortable with Maui being around Moana and her people at all. Just at this moment it got to him. Sina already had accepted him, not only among her people, but as part of her inner circles? It can't be, he thought and stiffened as she came closer."What are you getting at, Mrs, Curly?"  
  
"Maui ... Tui is not afraid of Moana leaving again.  ", she said serene, but this confession also carried a cargo load of sorrow. "He is afraid Moana might fall in love with you."    
  
Silence fell around them, as the Demigod shifted his head around, as if he didn't hear right.  
A little timid he askingly pointed at himself. " ...  _Me?_ "  
"No, that guy behind you.".  
Sina’s sarcasm didn't seem to have reached his ears and he was about to turn around in confusion. Nobody was near, only her looking annoyed. She actually  _did_  speak about him!  
  
It shook him to the core as if Sina’s bluntness had thrown hundreds of small Te Kās at him. His inner wall bursted into gleaming hot rocks as the inner spark, that had grown secretly inside him broke free and inhaled deeply for the first time. A burning sensation in his chest set Mini-Maui on fire. While Tiny panickly ran in circles, before jumping into Mini-Moanas waves, Sina pinned him down with knowing eyes. Though there was no hostility, he felt tense. Since Moana had stepped into his life, she had been completely immune to his charm. No bragging or flexing or stories about what Maui had accomplished had affected her in any way and never she had shown any sign of interest in the Demigod. Why would Sina even assume Moana could have a thing for him? He couldn't believe the woman to be so direct! Maui tried to wrap a thought around it. ‘ _The tunnel!’_  
   
At this he knew Sina must've found something, he'd rather avoid to speak about. Maui frowned in anger about his bad luck lately. At the same time he despereatly tried to stomp out the flames inside. ‘ _The gods be damned!’_  
  
"He's  _bananas!_ ", he said firmly and somewhat angry, as if he wanted to convince her.  
"His precious non-princess and a Demigod? Sounds like  _wishful thinking_  if you ask me!"  
Thanks to her condition, he didn't speed up too much, as he usually would. Leaving her behind after everything she had to live through lately would have been a little bit too rude.  
  
"It is  _not!_ ", Sina said expressive, attempted to not let go of his eyes.  
"Don't tell me you believe that crap too.", the shape-shifter snarled at the wall flower, but all she did was to blink slightly puzzled.  
  
"I ... We only have to  _look_ at you!" the woman hurried to walk alongside him. "I can  _see_  you both! Tui does  _too!_ "  
  
The Demigod's temper had been sore from the start they got here and Sina’s poking was the last bit to push him over the egde. With swirling curls and tinkling tooth-chain he turned to face her with a furious glare.  
  
"So, you're  _both_  bananas!" Maui hissed at her, as if it was obvious and tried hard not to get any louder. "Moana is a  _friend!_  End of story!"  
  
He had enough to worry about! Like how to forget someone whose image had been a part of his story. And there was the last piece that was missing. He had forgotten his  _hawk_? Slowly, very slowly, his hand found it's way to the tattoo of Moana on his chest. Was it worth a shot? Possible even? Not sure what to think, he applied to Tiny, whose eyes were sad, as he shook his head. Sina saw the turmoil in his eyes. She could barely comprehend what inner battles the maori in front of her fought. Comforting cool hands found his ellbow, as she looked up to him.  <<<  
  
" ... But what if it happens?" She already knew the answer it seemed. It wouldn't be possible. Maui sighed, a thankfull smile and his anger stepped down. Sina truly was a calming flower.  
  
"Aw. ... You know me.", he carefully placed a faked, carefree grin over his worries. "I won't let it come to that."  
  
\--------------------------  
  
One hour into the full moon and the people gathered around the beach, where chiefs Moana and Tui wrapped their arms around Sina. The story she span about what had happened in public was different from the one she told her daughter and her husband in secret. She didn't mention the carvings she had discovered both times, to Maui's relief. The Demigod just stood apart from the junior-wayfinders and watched them with crossed arms. The people only shook their head at Sina for scaring them and the elders just sat there in wonder why it was the Demigod again who had found her. The same question was keeping Moana’s mind busy too, as her gruesome findings today.  
Moana hugged her mother and father, exchanged a friendly look toward the helpful wayfinders, especially Iida, and watched them leaving to the camp fires. She had hoped to find Maui's eyes on her, when she turned to face him with a smile, that disappeared pretty fast. The Demigod was looking behind, like talking to Tiny. Something was there towering above him like a shadow someone had to scare away. Moana though it should be her.  
  
" .. And  _here_  we have the noble hero of the day - Again.", Moana said quietly joking, while closing in. "Tell me,  _Maui_ , What's your secret?" She heard him chuckle softly, but he didn't say anything. She figured he might be tired too in some way.  _Do gods get tired too?_ She knew Maui could stay awake for a long time and she had never seen him resting his head or closing his eyes for a time. Curious the young chieftess tilted her head at him. Something small she had seen right away when she had noticed him and Sina made her wonder. His eyes were so sorrowful. ... "Are ... Are you alright?", Moana asked softly.  
Maui looked at her shortly as if he had to be reminded how to grin.  
  
"Yeah. I couldn't be better.", he lied not very good. "I'm the  _hero of the day!_ "  
Worried Moana leered at him. He had been difficult in the past, but he always had had a reason to be. This time, she couldn't grasp it. He should be happy about himself, proudly boasting himself and kissing his biceps! Instead he just huffed and turned to sit down under a palm.  
  
"I thought you couldn't get tired." she smiled and sank next to him. The fires and noises of her people were the only warm spots reaching for their senses.  
"I don't.", he assured her, putting his arms behind his long curls. " ... Just enjoying not baby-sitting the baby-sitter for a change."    
  
Moana didn't want to bug him with questions any longer. Even if she had a story she needed to tell him, she remained silent and respected his unspoken wish for some peace.  
  
Moana leaned back, listening to the waves and the voices of their singing people. Neither of them cared to break the quiet and thought about nothing and everything all the same. Crying birds, waves clashing on the cliffs, laughter among the people and the moon shone down on the calm ocean. When Maui stretched out his right hand to mesure the stars, Moana's rose to follow his gaze.  
  
" ... What are you looking for?"    
Again he refused to look straight at her, when he gave his mumbling answer.  
"Just wondering where to begin ... ". It was clear that this wouldn't be enough, so he added a tad too annoyed. "And how to reach  _anything_  in time, before you crumble to dust!"  
  
Moana thought Maui had a perfect inner sense of being right without noticing, when her personal experiences from today tickled her mind. She didn't want to remember what she had discovered in the old lava cavern, but she knew she had to. She believed the fog had something to do with the people who once lived here. Moana could still remember the gentle touch, the sensation, when the spirit had noticed her. It had lead her to the body! The young chief shuddered and tried to rub the chill from her arms.    
  
"Maui. ... I have something to tell you ... "  
  
The Demigod lowered his arm to look straight at her. He had heard this kind of careful confession before in Sina’s voice, when she told him what she and Tui feared the most. Mini-Maui's eyes became wide and he swallowed hard. ‘ _Moana, please don't.’_  Chained by the fear of her confessing something particular, he forgot to breathe.  
  
"... Today, I found a place ... ", she started and because she was looking at the sky, she didn't see the Demigod exhaling deeply. His face got seriously listening again, once she looked at him.  
" ... A grave."    
  
When Moana told him her whole story, Maui just sat there, quietly listening. The chieftess could see from time to time flashes of anger, fear and also sadness in the Demigod's eyes. Combined with everything he had told her, how he had lived here next to another tribe, made her believe even stronger he had something to confess to her too. The young woman wouldn't push him though. He'd come out of his shell sooner or later, when he wanted to. Strange how a 18 year old chieftess could make a Demigod have so much trust in her. Maui didn't look at her, when she finished and stood, like he couldn't breathe. Mini Maui patted him reasuring on the chest.  
  
"Yeah ... Thanks, I got it.", Maui mumbled to his tiny version. " ... - No, you  _don't_  have to tell her ... - What do you mean by that?! ... - _Oh sure!_  now I'm responsible! ...  _-You were the one who wanted to-_ ", then he started whispering, once Moana's eyes were too loud for him to ignore. Moana watched him talking for a while with one squinted eye and wondered if he got his tiny version, because he was talking to himself out of loneliness in the first place. With this much sadder version of how Mini Maui was born, she grasped one detail she had heard out of his absurd commentaries.  
  
"Maui!", her call made both look at her. "Tell me  _what?!_ "  
" _Okay!_  Okay! ...  _Sit!_ "  
  
Maui couldn't do it. Even after many fights he'd had with himself and his guilt about many mistakes he might have done, he could not tell her the most important thing. That he was responsible for the dead woman in the tunnel. That he couldn't be at her side anymore. How she looked at him from below, while his advice took the control out of her legs. How she sat there, like many, many nights before. Her face was something he never thought he had to miss. He knew he had gone a little bit too far, had visited her far too often. The Demigod thought he had been careful enough this time, until now. Now he wasn't even strong enough to be completely honest with her. ‘ _Just a little bit more. Just a little more time with her.’_  
  
" ... This land here was one of the first islands I am responsible for ... ", he started, while pointing to everything around them.  
"It was?", amazed Moana followed his gestures.  
"Yepp.", he took another good look around and to the north." ... tried to settle here for .. maybe 10 years ...? "  
  
Maui's voice was heavy like when he had entrusted her the most painful event in his earliest years. The young chief rose and stepped to his side, like a ghost. He almost didn't realize her standing next to him. He didn't mind her empathizing attendance, though he knew he should.  
  
" ... but I wasn't alone."  
Moana didn't dare to breathe out the clod sticking in her chest, making her heavy. The more Maui opened himself to her, the more horrible she felt about having persuaded him to come. He had told her enough about this island and had hinted out many times, he hadn't wanted to speak about it. Was he cracking now, because she had urged him so? Woeful her eyes narrowed and fell to her feet, when he breathed out what had bugged him about this place.  
  
".. Okay. .. There was a  _girl_ \- ", he panted and looked at her, if she was satisfied with his answer. " -  _And_  she's gone now! ... There's nothing more to it."  
  
Moana tried to find a way to make him look at her. "Maui ... ", her soft voice didn't change a damn thing. Maui was still rigidly staring at the horizon, like he tried to be cold as stone. Instead his skin felt warm, when her neat hand touched his chin to turn. The pressure was just as soft as a feather, but enough for their eyes to meet. For Maui it might've been because of Tiny's nervously tapping foot, that his chest started pounding wildly.  
  
Moana instead had no excuse. It was like the heart of Te Fiti would still beat on her torso.  
The young woman tried hard not to look at Tiny, even though she felt rather observed by him. She considered it to be rude, like talking to his arm instead to him. She respected the Demigod that much. Without him, Moana never would've been able to achieve what she had done. When she first had met him, he was just some overzealous, bragging guy, who stupidly had flexed his muscles to impress her. The young chief tried to think of a past reason, which had changed her heart to care about him as much as for a friend. ‘ _Not more?’_ , whispered the ember inside her hushly, like warming her feet. Listening to her heartbeat and the rush of blood under her eyes, she felt it taking root, lashing out toward another question she had been asking herself. ‘ _Who would he be?’_  
  
Maui was the first to look away before any of them could be tempted. Awkwardly touched Moana started playing with her hair and cleared her throat.  
"Do you need a hug?", she tried to cheer him up and backed off a little, to cover her aroused cheeks.  
"Uhm. No. thanks. ", he needed one, but he didn't want to be tempted again. "I'm good!", he added rather to convince himself. It didn't do it for Moana. Sheepishly grinning she widened her arms for him. "You know, you want to." And the smile she gave him was very inviting.  
  
Maui stared down at her, as the last bit of his wall, where Tiny was standing, got kicked over by a dolphin.  
" _Yes._ ", he wailed rueful. With hanging head and shoulders he leaned against her.  
"There, there.", smiling she wrapped her arms around his neck and patted his back.  
  
She did revel the bittersweet feeling, as his soft, black curls dangled over her nose. It cannot be.  So she stopped herself from letting herself go. She was a chief of Motunui and couldn't just give her heart away to a god. The Ocean was her companion, but she herself had no such thing as a magical weapon. Or tattoos on her skin to grant her power. And she wasn't immortal. She would die, rotting and be forgotten inside some grave nobody'll visit, while Maui would still roam the ocean, doing heorisms and mischief, shaping the world. Compared to him, she was nothing. He had shown her many times.  
  
As Moana understood the size of the mess she was stuck in, she forced herself to let go and faked a smile. There were still questions waiting to be answered, but she couldn't focus on it. She needed some rest and time to think. "Well, yeah. I guess I should get some sleep." jokingly she boxed his arm, it didn't even itch him.  
  
"Yeah. The rings under your eyes are  _huge!_ "  
  
While Chieftess Moana’s fist wished him a well formulated good night, something stirred on the island. Deep within and surrounded by it. Like frozen water a whiteness crawled hazy over the ocean. Omnipresent the fog seemed to breathe hungrily and to call out to those who remembered her name. While the Motunuians slept under their huts, the crowns of the palms started to wither. Demigod Maui still stood at the shore and felt a slight breeze on his face, when something huge startled the water. 

 

 

 


	11. ciki kogon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "ciki kogon" means "Inside the cave" ... I hope. 
> 
>  
> 
> Well, here's the 11th chapter. This time it's only focused on Moana.  
> I was afraid of describing Maui too often. The ff is called "Moana - New Shores" after all. XD

Sleep wasn't granted to the young chieftess. No tiredness would have a chance tonight. Moana just lied there for hours and flung herself from side to side, trying to relax. Her mind kept her awake with swirling thoughts. Eyes wide open and listening to her fresh memories. She put one hand over her chest, trying to stop her heart from burning. Moana wanted to plan their next steps, but when she remembered she would be with Maui alone on the ocean for a vague amount of time, all she could focus on was _him_. She pressed herself to find an explanation, a reason  _why_  and _how_  she could've fallen for him! An answer she could not grasp. Chieftess Moana breathed deeply and turned away from the tapa-carpet she once had wanted to throw into the ocean. Now she wished she had done so. If she hadn't held onto Maui for so long, she wouldn't have to deal with this nagging crush now. The 18 year old sat up and huffed, hoping to shake off her heavy chest, but it didn't get better.  
  
Everything around her seemed so dark all of a sudden, like her own feeling had affected the way how she viewed the world. Most of the Motunuian girls in her age often spoke about men and how much they wished for an exciting romance. They spoke about the topic as if it was just as a dream to dance in. As if it was something meaningful in their lives they had to achieve. Moana never had felt the urge to look for this achievement or how it felt like. She had not looked for it, but instead  _it_  had found  _her_ and it was not a happy dream! To her it was a nightmare she didn't want to set sail in. Moana feared she would have to live with it, while being married to someone she couldn't love and children she wished were someone else’s. The young chief turned on her back again, as if the burning sensation was accompanied by her bitter thoughts.  
  
Bitter eyes trailed along the palm crowns and watched how their broad leaves gently dandled in the misty banks. It was somewhat calming, though something about it itched her mind. The mist didn't bother her as much as the dead woman she had encountered a day prior, so it must've been something else bugging her. Moana found it odd, that moving palms would be so  _odd_  to her. It almost looked like  _wind!_ It didn't take her five seconds and she stood on the beach, her arms high up in the air, trying to feel a breeze between her fingers. Thin rain started again and nothing else touched her face. Confused Moana gazed at the sky and the tops of the swinging trees. She could  _see_  it, but not  _feel_  it, like it just has been a ...  _"_...  _Memory?_ ", Moana frowned as her intuition failed to give her a certain piece.  
  
_‘Maui had lost his memory of the hawk’_ , she listed in her head and started to wander around. ‘ _After he used it . While being in touch with it.’_ ... "what does it mean?", she whispered to herself and wished she knew how to talk to the past. A small cheep escaped her, when an idea crossed her mind and she stayed still. She knew someone beside Maui who had been around a long time. Maybe Bubbles- ...  _The Ocean_ could hold her council?  _No._  She knew it was not very talkative and kept walking.  _But what if ..._ She turned around. It could give her a hint, maybe show her some places! Moana was so tangled in trying to figure this out, that she didn't even realize Maui was nowhere to be seen, and slowly stepped toward the waves. The silent, grey clouds turned the water almost black like Maui's curls, but she still felt the gentle greeting around her toes. The chief went down to her haunches and touched her friend’s surface with a soft hand.  
  
"How are you feeling about it all?", she spoke shallow and felt a small swirl tickle her palm. " ... Can you show me what happened?"   
The ocean hesitated and kept playing with her fingers, like it was more interested in interacting with her. Moana blew her nose and smiled amused like talking to a child. She almost gave up on it, when the water backed away too fast, the undertow pulled the sand under her feet away. Whirling water drops touched her skin and her long, ebony curls got caught in a vortex, as the sea uncovered a muddy path leading to the northern cliffs. Amazed Moana kept staring and panting with excitement. The chieftess threw one last look over her shoulder. Her people were still sleeping, unaware of anything. She'd make it in time. She won't leave the island and she'd be back before any of them would worry. Maui was still here somewhere, so she took the first step to the north.   
  
It didn't take long for the fog to find the space the ocean had left and filled it's holes like milky fat swimming on water. Moana didn't feel comfortable around it and had to jump at some shadows emerging out of the white nothing. The way ahead was clear though, bordered by salt water and at least she was sure she wouldn't get lost. Surrounded by mist and ashen, raw pillars piercing out of silvery smoke like rips, she got the feeling she was being watched. She had nothing to defend herself with. No spear, not even her beloved oar. She had figured it wouldn't be needed and if she had been sneeking around the camp, someone might've woken. The ocean would probably help her, if she truly needed aid. Still, this feeling kept kicking her to be alerted. Small hairs on her back stood like standing in thunder and she was completely tense. What was that? A sound? Someone was following her in the fog! Moana quickened her pace. ‘ _Just an animal! Just an animal!’_ _  
  
_ It wasn't.   
Strong features of a tall shadow emerged from behind her.  
Moana turned and shock kicked out random curses "COCKPIGBUTT!", her heart jumping out of her chest, while she leaped away and almost kissed the rocks. "Moana, relax. It's me!" The young woman hurled around and looked into Iida’s - between ‘ _What did you just call me?’_  and slightly amused - features. Two spears were tied to her back. She was laughing, was she? Moana couldn't believe it. " _Argh!_  Iida!", she cried out and tried to calm her guts with one hand pressed on her chest. She panted facedown, supporting herself on her knees, then hurling herself back up to groan at the air. "You almost killed me!"  
  
"Apologies.", Iida grinned amused. Moana saw it in her narrowed eyes. Her heart still racing, she needed some time to catch her breath.  
"What are you doing here?", she wanted to know not very content. "Saw you sneaking away and followed you.", the woman’s gaze hardened suspiciously. "Why are you out here alone?"  
  
"I .. needed some time to think. Just checking on something." Moana turned her back to her friend and kept walking. She didn't want Iida being with her at the moment. Not in this! It wasn't like she couldn't trust her, but to endanger her, only because Moana had to follow a notion was not right. Footsteps behind her signalised her, Iiida was not yet satisfied. "What are you  _doing?_ ", Moana halfway turned to face her, keeping up her former pace and trying to escape her companion.  
  
"I'm coming with you.", Iida said like it already was settled.  
Moana kept walking and almost forgot her scary surroundings. "Go back, Iida."  
"Why?" Her question was like sharpened bone.    
"I need to do this alone.", her slight attempt to convince her seemed to just make it more interesting and recoiled from her crossed-armed friend. "Trust me. It's complicated."   
Iida though wasn't persuaded yet, until Moana stood before her to stop her. " _Please_ , Iida. I don't want you to get hurt! So _please_ , just, go back and don't tell anyone I'm out here.", Moana held her by the arms. "I don't know what I'll find!"  
  
The buff woman wouldn't be moved, _‘_ _just like him’_ , Moana thought. Instead of showing any other emotion than a bad mood, the tall Iida shoved her gently away. "That's why I won't let you go alone." she explained and showed her teeth like a defiant wildcat. The sudden harshness of her tone left Moana quite dazzled and Iida sighed.  
  
"Moana.", she started her speech and put a hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes. " _You_  are my  _chief!_   ... I don't have magic powers and I wasn't chosen by anything, but _I know what it means_  ... And I won't go down in history as someone who abandoned their kin." With that she reached for one of the spears and stabbed it into the mud before her. Moana sucked in the look Iida gave her and deeply moved she had to dry her eyes. She was glad to have chosen Iida to accompany her into the  _new world,_ she had't had the time to enjoy. This damn fog seemed to suck out the life out of moments which should be exciting and cheerful. Instead everything was grey in grey, like a fading ... " _Memory. ..._  " There it was again. Something inside her tried to climb from deep below to enlighten her. Iida was eyed like a terrified chicken. "What ... ?"  
Moana came back into the now  "What?, but then she took the spear with a yielding smile. "Come! We have to hurry. The Ocean can't hold the tide for long."   
  
Together they followed the sandy path near the cliffs where Maui had found Sina inside a lava cavern. Moana had the feeling she knew where the ocean was leading them and it filled her with fear. She was afraid what they were about to discover would not only bring light into darkness, but also change her world. What if the fog was a manifestation of Maui's memories? Moana’s throat went dry, as she considered it further. Were the elders right? Had he been responsible for it after all? ‘ _But why?’_ , she thought with dread hitting her heart. Maui loved to fly! She had witnessed it many times and the pure thought of it gave her heart a bittersweet nugde. The young chieftess wouldn't stop trying, until she saw one of those carefree smiles again. It was the only way she could show her affection to him. Iida had shown her, it works that way.  
  
When their way made a soft turn toward the cliffs to their left, they took a moment to catch their breaths. Moana spied around, if she could see any stars at all, but the sky wouldn't show her any. She scoffed silent curses, when Iida asked panting.  
  
"What are we looking for exactly?"   
"... I'm trying to find a solution for the missing wind ... ", she chose to say. _I want to help Maui get his feathers back_  wouldn't have been as understandable.  
"I think it has something to do with the fog and that its roots are here somewhere." Iida straightened again after some breathers and nodded.  
"... What makes you think that?", she asked her chief and lowered her pace, peeking around the lava rocks to have an eye on the tunnel before them. The grotto was wide and flat. Soft, black sand layed before their bare feet and guided into a yawning blackness, like gazing through the gates of Lalotai. It choked them both. There was no seaweed lying around. No fish had lost its way here and no other sign of life was to be found. The air here smelled not fresh and free, but like old ash. Moana put on an angry face and swallowed her fear, stepping into the darkness, closely followed by Iida. "This must be the cave where Sina was found.", the tall woman said hushly and looked around, to make sure their way out won't disappear. But Moana wasn't listening. The chieftess’ eyes were fixed on the carved walls, which were smooth like molten sand. Before her were stories from ages ago and it started  _whispering_  to her. Like in the grotto on Motunui, where she had played the drum to contact ghosts of her ancestors, they started to speak in maori.  
Frantically her eyes traced along the images on the wall and guided her way deeper into the void, while Iida’s call was unheard. ‘ _What do you want to tell me?’_ Rough underground made her step less easy to take, the deeper she went. She did not care, if her soles and ankles would be sore. Strangely she was still able to see the soft lines describing Maui's victory over the beast that had terrorized the people. The shape-shifter’s words echoed in her mind. On this island he had planted the first palm! Not sure what to think of that, Moana discovered the thin lines were glowing like Maui's fish-hook would and enlightened the whole ceiling with the rest of the story. Something forgotten and untold spreaded out above her and while Iida closed in and followed her gaze, Moana's eyes sparkled in awe.  
  
_A long time ago, there were only the people on raw, steaming stone. Life was hard, because a monster lurked in the deep, scaring all the fish away and devoured those who dared to fish in his bays._ _  
  
__One day though, the Demigod appeared and saw their troubles. He vanquished the beast so they could fish again and buried its remains in the black earth, to grow trees which would feed them. The people were grateful, but could not pay the prize he demanded. So the people gave him one of their most beautiful daughters instead. Her name was Ro'e. The Demigod was not pleased and showed it by treating her with cruelty until he left her trapped inside the caves. Ro'e died in the dark, waiting for the Demigod’s return and in her rage she breathed a curse upon the people who sold her. ..._ _  
  
__And she will return, reborn in fog, to lull the world in eternal slumber, to be remembered forever._ _  
  
_ Still shaken by Iida’s tight grip, Moana woke wheezing, like she had stopped breathing. Her gaze was still fixed on the image of a woman, surrounded by steam and monsters, who stared down at them. Upset the young chief narrowed her eyes. What she just saw couldn't be true! It mustn't be true! She refused to believe Maui could be cruel to a woman.  _On the other hand_ , said a snake named doubt,  _he trapped you too._ Moana felt sick and panted to shake it off, turning away. " ... it was her."  
"Moana, what-!?"   
  
The earth around them shook and small rocks fell from the ceiling. It almost sounded like thunder from the island’s core and a rotten smell like foul breath blew in their noses. The fog rose around them and swallowed them whole. No further words were exchanged, as both of them fled the crumbling cavern. Something seemed to follow them, licking their footsteps like a huge tongue as it closed in. "RUN!" Moana’s cry only made it more hostile and she could hear its deep and gurgling growl. Pallid light of their escape shone down on them - the moon didn't have to shine to show what had followed them - when they jumped out of the way. Iida right, Moana to the left.   
  
The sound of sliding skin in their ears and the smell of rotten flesh in their faces, a monstrous eel squeezed itself out of the tunnel and gathered it's twining body. Huge globs of slime dripped down its fins and scaly head. Four long baleen plates dangled from it's long jaw as it showed its teeth, breathing in their scent. Moana pressed her back against the rock. It couldn't be! She still couldn't explain where the eel had come from! It was the eel, not just some trick of her mind! She must've been right! Ro'e's fog had somehow revived a thousand year old memory -  and it spoke. " _ **You can't hide from me**_ " It's voice was deep and muddy like a sick and muddy lung, but it droned through her chest and slid down her back like a jellyfish. She dared to peek and saw how its long tentacles fumbled on the ground, around the cliffs. " _ **I can taste your fear.**_ " Dripping down slime betrayed its approach, as the young chief could duck down and flinch away in time. Keeping every urge to vomit at bay and to make no sound, she bit her lower lip and rolled over the ground. Taking cover behind her new hiding spot, she could catch sight of Iida. The woman was sneaking around as well, but was climbing up the cliffs. Was she trying to attack it? Right when the eel turned his head towards her loyal friend, she wanted to warn her! " _ **Where Are You!?**_ " But it didn't seem to see her?   
  
Moana took another close look it its hideous face. Its eyes were hazy, almost white. Was it blind? By the size of it, it would've been more than helpful, but she had the feeling there was more to it than meets the  _eye_. When it hesitated for a moment, kept tasting the cliffs, where Iida just had been, Moana could only watch how the jaws snapped open. A shocked call for Iida stuck in her throat as the monster flinched back, gurgling loud in pain and thrashing around. A spear was sticking out of it's upper jaw and Iida came flying down, splashing into a wave. the young chief had no time to be relieved and moved as fast as she could towards the ocean. She could already hear the rushing waves in the distance and hurried to Iida’s side to help her to her feet. "The Ocean comes back! Move! Move!"  
  
Now she was sure it knew of their close presence and to stay in the open would be foolish. Both women fled toward the cliffs. The beast hissed behind them and she could hear how its gooey body dragged over the sand. " _ **Come Back!**_ ", the monster demanded trying to snatch them. Moana heard the clunching teeth close behind her and with Iida at her side, she took a daring jump up on the sharp rocks. The gigantic skull crashed into the cliffs that the ground beneath them shook. Hot, white pain shot through her leg, as it expanded and she cried out. The chieftess had rolled her ankle a day prior and now it felt like a strap of leather had finally snapped. Moana rolled on her back and clunched her jaw panting, trying to relax her foot. Iida growled as if she wanted to scare away her own dizzyness and looked at her in concern. "Chief Moana!?"  
  
"It's okay! ... I-I'm okay!", she panted. "I think I just pulled something ... "   
  
Ruffling beneath them left her paralyzed for a short second. Moana exchanged a look with her friend, as an enormous shadow rose above and towered over them. " _Now, what do we have here? ... "_  Iida shielded her chief with one arm, as the beast raised a tentacle to touch them.  
  
"KEEP _STILL! "_ _ **  
  
**_ Moana swallowed hard and trembled as the hideous beast got a taste of her. Muscus stuck to her face, burned on her skin. "Ugh! _ **Humans!**_ ", the eel shuddered in disgust. The young chieftess clenched to her stubborness and slapped the tentacle out of her face. " _Get away from us!_ ", she snarled over the eel’s hiss and stood, shakingly. Its foul stink made her stomach turn and she would've vomited right here, right now, if she had eaten something before leaving. Still the young chief wouldn't falter even a bit.  
  
Her attempt to proove her courage failed. the monster exposed its sharp teeth. " _How Dare you not bowing before me!_ ", it hissed furious over her restistance to fear him and bashed its tail into the earth behind, hurling gras and dirt. The ground shook anew like Te Fiti’s heart beat and almost threw them to their knees again.  
  
" _ **Who Do You think you are?**_ "  
  
Moana’s head went dizzy from all the noise. The voice of the eel shook her to the core, but she refused to stand down. Her ears rang and her hurt leg pounded. Far away she heard something else too. It was hissing, louder. The tide called out to her, lifting her spirit and washing away her fear. When the ocean inside her rose, she took one step toward the beast and threatened it with her spear. " _I am Chief Moana of Motunui! The Ocean’s Chosen and Bearer of Te Fiti’s Heart!_ ", she roared in a proud voice and actually brought the eel to back away i's jaws. "You are trespassing on  _Our_  island and I advise you to leave!  _NOW_ or face the consequences!"  
  
" _ **And what might**_ **that** _ **be, tiny human?**_ ", it sneered slightly amused, probably the only reason it wouldn't swallow them on the spot. " _ **LOOK at you! You are**_ **Nothing** _ **!**_ "  
"This is my last warning!", Moana heard the ocean coming closer and she was sure, they were not alone. She just had to keep it busy. " _LEAVE!_  Or Face Death Again!"   
  
The eel now was stiff and widened its fins. Something dark and burning seemed to gather in its throat and it started howling  _loudly. "_ ** _FOOLISH MORTAL!"_** _,_ it laughed with clicking fangs and twitching barbles, before tightening its body around them and narrowing its stinking head to them. " _WHO do you think I have to thank for my second chance?!_ " Right in time, the wave that had gathered at the horizon was to be seen and it was huge. Towering like a liquid wall behind the monster and clashed down its steely masses. The eel's shocked cry got drowned by tons of water and its body crushed against the sharp rocks, cracking its scales. Moana didn't want to wait until it started moving again and fled supported by Iida past slimy puddles. The two women often looked over their shoulders if a certain noise behind them was the eel. Did the ocean kill it? Moana looked up to the sky and the eel’s last words still hung in the air. Stumbling many hundred meters further, they finally sat down and caught their breaths between bushes and trunks.   
  
"Are you hurt?", Moana asked finally, still panting, but Iida didn't answer. For someone who never showed fear, the woman seemed very pale. She only stared at her, still coping with what she just had seen. The young chief was still shaking, disbelieving of what she just had done. She had stared down a monster that easily could've eaten both of them. But as she had been surrounded by it, she had found a new sensation inside her. An adrenalytic thrill, like she had a god like strength.  _Gods_  ... Where was Maui?   
"Do you think it's dead?", Iida finally was able to speak to her again, was still unsure how to look into her eyes. "No ... ", and when she tried to stand again, her leg told her in hot pain, it would not be possible. The young chief hissed and was quickly caught by her companion.  
  
"Iida,  _you_  have to go back!"  
"I won't leave you here!"  
" _Listen_ , I can't run! But you can!", Moana saw the woman shake her thick skull, but the chieftess groped her hand. "If it's still alive, you _need_  to warn them! I'll be alright!"  
Iida locked her hard eyes with hers, still being played with between loyalty and her principles. " _Go!_ ", Moana commanded in her father’s tone. When Iida put a fast hand in her neck and pulled to her to lock their foreheads, Moana felt all the frustration she had to overcome. As quick as they were close, Iida disappeared through the undergrowth, leaving her chieftess behind. Sadness made Moana hang her head, when the name Ro'e shot back to her, like a knife in her back.   
  
"Maui ... What have you done?"

 

 

 


	12. Mafarki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VENTURE CAREFULLY! 
> 
> NUDITY!
> 
> \------------------
> 
> "Mafarki" means 'dream'

Iida ran like all monsters of Lalotai were at her heels. Her lungs were burning, her legs heavy, but she wouldn't slow down until she finally reached the bay. Images flashed before her eyes. Chief Moana facing down a mighty monster in a hopeless situation where death had been most certain. Nonetheless her chief had stood her ground like nothing could make her falter. _So young and already so much courage._  Iida tried not to let got of the feeling of their touching foreheads and secretly wished she could turn back time. All her life she had watched Moana from afrar and at some point had developed deep emotions that kept beating her mind, like a surge breaking on raw cliffs. She'd stay strong for her. It was the only way she could show her affection.  
  
As soon as she crested the last rocks, leading down into the bay, she used all her reserves for a last sprint. She leaped into the beach, after running on sharp stone it felt like silk beneath her soles. Her feet deeply driven into the sand, she couldn't bring her thighs to lift free herself. The buff woman crawled a few steps and rushed toward the encampment. Tui and Sina were awake right away and being not a very good story teller, she tried her best to explain the situation overtoned by her panting. She mentioned the grotto, the eel, but Tui rose only, when she told him Moana would still be out in the wild. Chief Tui took a torch and a knife and was gone, telling her to rest. 

There she lied on her back, her chest lifting to the sound of her exerted lungs. Sina sat next to her with a hand on the woman’s head. It would be only a matter of time until Moana returned safely to tell their people about everything that was going on. Tui's wife wasn't sure what to make out of the  _eel-part_ , but she knew Iida never had been creative with words and she was no liar. Chills fell down her arm, when she threw dark looks to the north. Hadn't Maui found her, she probably would've died and her unborn child with her. She stayed at her daughter’s guardian's side, until she was able to breath calmly. "Stay and rest. You deserve it."  
  
Iida didn't listen. "I'm fine.", she mumbled with rattling throat and coughed, sitting up. "What if they need help?"  
"They'll be  _fine!"_ , Sina claimed and pushed her back down. "Maui can't be far."  
Astonished by her sudden power in Sina’s arm - or was her body too exhausted? - she placed her bottom back into the sand. Iida hadn't been fond of this bloating guy from the start. In her eyes he resembled everything she didn't like about men. She hated how he tried to woo the other girls, play with their hearts and heads to get what he wanted. Once he'd finish he would run from the concequences, lust like the walls inside the grotto had told them. And it strongly seemed like Moana also fell victim to his so called charms and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
" _Ppf, Maui._  ... just wondering why he's never  _around_ , when things are turning sour. ", Iida scoffed, her dull hair covering the bitterness in her eyes.  
"Iida, he saved us all.", slightly shocked about her attitude, Sina stared down at her. "He saved me.  _Twice._ "  
  
" _Yes._  He did ... ", Iida nodded persuaded, but something darker was sneaking up behind her gentle words. "Ever asked why though? ..." her firm look kept Sina breathless.  
"We were on our way  _without_  his help." Iida coughed. "... and she-  _We_  were  _fine!_   Then  _he_  shows up, things suddenly go wrong, and who's there to save the day?  _Maui._ "   
  
"These are serious accusations, Iida." Sina warned her in a low grumbling tone. Sina knew Maui was a blabbering puffball - she  _really_  liked this word - but she could not believe he'd endanger Moana and her people, just to impress them. "I'm not saying anything just to spite the Demigod. I'm only listing the obvious. ...", Iida kept being stubborn and it angered Sina. She seemed like she concealed a deep mistrust in the Demigod, like she had a good reason to do so. "Enough." the pregnant woman didn't want to hear anything about it, because Iida did stir up another kind of view. She had watched both of them and all this time Maui's attention was directed to Moana. What if he tried to get closer to her, by getting closer to Sina? But it had been the ocean, who brought him to her, twice. He hadn't had any control in it. Sina kept caring for her patient, handed her a coconut-cup with water. "Why do you trust him?", came Iida’s low question. Why indeed? Tui had asked the same question over and over again. In fact she had the feeling his hostility had stained Iida’s mind. Sina placed a caring hand on her belly - it wouldn't take much longer- and she couldn't answer right away.  
  
"Because  _Moana_  trusts him.", she sighed and smiled.   
  
Iida frowned and pressed her lips shut, looking away. Sina was right about it. If she really had faith in her chief, then she wouldn't let jealousy cloud her judgement. The buff woman hated this emotion. It felt wrong, like trying to fit in someone else’s footprints. She knew she would never end up at Moana’s side and though she wished for it, she couldn't accept that something so small would have her state of mind in a tight grip. She had to remind herself, that all she wanted was Moana to be happy and not just to fake it. It had kicked her in her most sore spot, when she had seen how  _he_  could make her chieftess laugh. Once he had showed up, Maui had exstinguished Moana’s depression by his sheer attendance. Iida never could've done better and she knew she wouldntt have the chance to try. It never would be her. 

\---------------------------

The moon showed itself for a short moment and granted Moana only sparse light. She had pulled herself out of her own darkness after sitting on a log like a wilting flower. Until she couldn't stand herself anymore. She had to do something and brooding over the past wouldn't have made anything better. Feeling alone enough or being too stressed out to care, she had untied the tapa covering her chest and had wrapped it around her injuried limb. The temporary bandage should make her step more solide. 

Though she couldn't see much in the shade, she tried to find her way. Braced by her weapon, Moana strained her bad leg as less as possible and tried to focus on the sound of the ocean to her left. If she kept following its voice in this straight direction, she'd make it back before sunrise - if she wouldn't have to make a break so often. Moana hurried past a tree and kicked a bulge on the ground with the wrong foot. Cursing one of Maui's one-liners and realizing the origin of her words, she grunted loudly like a disturbed animal. Starled by her own voice, the last bit of energy left her body and she sank to her knees, gasping in exhaustion. The long way past the cliffs, the fight against the eel and the damage she had taken invited  _tiredness_  to take its toll. Surely Iida would be back by now and a search party led by her father was probably on the way. Would it be so harmful if she stayed for a little to rest her eyes? The young chief stretched out her legs and relaxed, leaning against the tree. Just for a moment to gain some strength. The upright held spear in her hand, Moana breathed deeply and fought her heavy lids for a while, when her chin finally sank to her chest. She didn't even feel the coolness of the fog anymore, as if it warmed her like a cozy blanket. No sound came from the treetops and bushes around her, like something was taking all the sensations away. A sweet scent filled the air, like festering flowers, and she drifted away.  
  
When she cast up her eyes, the night was long gone. Nothing filled the air, but light had woken her up. She stood up to her feet right away, panickly looking to the sky and cursing. Bright morning clouds made every corner of her resting place milky and the mist was more dense than yesterday. Everytime she thought it couldn't get any worse, it eventually did. The pain in her leg seemed to have wandered to her head and made her sight dizzy. At least she would be able to hurry back. Wondering if she'd meet a friendly face on her way, Moana took her spear and ran south. She couldn't believe she was so careless to doze off like that, while her people might still be in danger. Everything she thought about was getting back. Getting Back! Warning Them! Preparing Them! Getting back, warning them! Getting back! She didn't feel the air on her skin, or wind playing with her mane. In fact she didn't feel anything at all. No warmth, no cold.  _Nothing._ Moana stopped, throwing up small pebbles and sand in her track. This was not right! Was she running in circles? The young chief leered around her like a hawk in search for an enemy. Young trees sprouted here and there out of the black earth like fine breaths of life after a forest fire and no greater sign of vegetation was nearby. Confused she accepted the notion that she wasn't where she had dropped off and that's when she heard them.  
  
Voices in the fog. Children, Women, Men. Laughter and crying. Whispering, praying and she could hear a sound she had hoped to never hear again. It was a low hum, like drums under water. The more she listened, the louder it became. Under all those drums, past the whispers, she awaited dangers, pinning her down. Moana listened to her guts not to stay and kept sprinting, past seedlings and boulders, but the area would not change. All she could see was fog and hear scattered voices. The chief held onto her spear and tightened her grip. " _Okay ... Okay..._  ", she tried to calm herself and to keep a clear mind. She was still here, alive and breathing. Her leg didn't hurt anymore and she was capable to defend herself. "I am Moana of Motunui ... I can do this. ... " Moana examined the banks, the ground, but when she turned her eyes to the sky, she lost all control over her body and dropped her spear. Through a hole in the smoke she saw no sky, no sun, but the shadow of a huge whale swimming gently above. She knew she had heard those noises before and she didn't want to believe it at first. Now Moana was certain, she wasn't in the mortal world anymore. " ...  _Lalotai?_ ", she gasped. "How is this possible?!"   
  
Moana beared down to regain her spear. Strangely enough, she didn't recall anything that would resemble the realm of monsters in the slightest. When she had traveled to Lalotai to get Maui's hook back, she had seen unwordly and dirty colors, huge and glowing plants. Everything there had wanted to devour her. This place here was nothing but smoke, black earth and voices. The Ocean was quiet too. Panic rose in Moana’s chest anew and she couldn't move. The young chieftess was frozen to the core. " ...  _Did I die?_  ... "   
  
"Actually, I wanted to ask the exact same question."  
  
The woman almost lost her mind, when Gramma Tala’s voice chirmed behind her. Paralyzed, she stared at her and let her guard sink to the ground, before she hurled herself into the old woman’s arms. " _Gramma!_ ", Moana choked and swallowed hard on unshed tears. She felt her grandmother’s gentle hands on her back, then framing her face. "Oh, Moana, what are you  _doing_  here?", Tala asked and her cheeky eyes leered down at her. " ... Is this one of those awkwardly  _naked-in-public-dreams?_ "  
Moana looked to her chest, then to Tala again and covered her breasts with her hand. " _Urhm_... It's a long story. ... ", Moana wheezed, but frowned in wonder. "Wait! What are you saying?". Hissing out of the fog startled her and instinctevly she pointed her weapon in its direction. When nothing happened, she lowered it again. Guarded by Tala's patient gaze, she could finally think again and investigated what might had happened to her. " ... This isn't real."  
" _Ohh_ , it sure is!", Tala responded. Though she kept her jolly nature, there was an urgency in her rasping voice. "And it is not only affecting the waking world."  
"What do you mean?", Moana turned to her, when Tala gently took her hand.   
" _Who._ "  
"What?"  
"You already know her name, otherwise she wouldn't try to trap you in this nightmare." Tala sighed annoyed, like it would explain everything and turned to the fog.   
" _Ro'e._ " Moana spoke her name like a curse and couldn't help but getting tense. "What can you tell me about her, Gramma?"   
" _Ro'e_   is just the name she uses as an immortal." the old woman’s voice was a well recieved variety to the sound of the fog.  
"Now she is far beyond of who she once was - a demoness of death and sleep-  trapping souls and devouring them."   
  
Tala let her words stand in the air for a whiie and turned around with a broad smile. "Good thing I found you first, right?"   
Moana stood there in awe, pondering. "Why did Maui forget?!", she almost blared. She felt like having found the solution to all worlds problems and not being able to touch it.   
"What's the fog  _for_!?"  
  
The elder woman didn't flinch and only smiled quietly, when her words hit Moana in the face. "She  _is_  the fog!", Tala  cupped Moana’s cheek. "Just like you are the ocean ... "   
" _Gramma_ , you're not making any sense.", Moana huffed, hanging her shoulders. Tala’s eyes became wary. "She consumes with the fog, Moana." her gaze was intense, like touching a campfire. "She uses it to trap emotions. ... Like a net reaching two worlds and once. Dreams, knowlegde, even magic. ... making them physical and easier to break."  
  
Moana stared at her while sharply calculating.   
"So ... Maui destroyed his own memory inside the fog ... ", the young chief growled. " ... and broke his story in the process."  
Her grandmother’s smile grew heavy with pride for her gandchild and she praising patted the top of her head. "Very good."  
The young chief only took her gramma’s hand, afraid she might be left alone again. "Gramma, how do we stop her?"    
As if Tala just remembered how important all of it was, she captured Moana’s hand and stared at her.  
  
"The answer lies far beneath her very own origin.", Tala gently started to caress Moana’s cheek. Elderly eyes traced along her features, like seeing her story with all its sad passages. "... The ocean is the only thing she cannot consume, Moana. This is why she fears you." For a short moment the young chief brought to her mind, how she had faced and vanquished the eel. Even after Te Fiti had been revived, the ocean had been at her side and guided her. Why it still would reach out to her was a question that never had come to her mind until now. Why was it still with her, though? Did this mean she was ment to do more for the world? Right now Ro'e seemed like the next worst challenge to face. "Now.", Tala eyed her excitedly. "What do you want to do next?"

The chieftess continued to wonder how this information could help her and sighed, shaking her head. " ... Waking up would be nice."   
"Now, this is a thing I can help you with.", came Tala’s chuckle and before Moana could take action, she touched her forehead. All she could see, smell and hear was flowing water.   
  
Drenched in sweat Moana inhaled deeply and sat up straight surrounded by nightlife. The fog around her was no more, like it had backed away from her. She could feel her leg pounding to the rythm of her own heartbeat and hear chirping insects nearby. The trusted swooshing of waves in the distance and the cool air caressing her naked chest, she cupped her face. Moana’s head was burning against her cold palm and she felt weak. Not sure how long she had slept, she didn't want to wait any longer. Tala’s words were more present like ever before. But what did she mean?  _You are the ocean._  Trembling the chieftess pulled herself back up to see the fog backing away even more, like it was caught up in its own tide. One try with her hurt leg, she started moving, pushing the mist away like she was surrounded by an unseen force.  _She fears you._  
  
Moana could still feel the call inside her. She knew now what she had to do and it gave her the push she had needed in a long time. A dark goddess was threatening the world and to stop her she needed the wind back in their sails, as much as Maui needed his freedom. If this one memory had been lost, surely they could try to renew it somehow. It would be must faster to attack Ro'e in her own realm, but to do that Maui needed his full strength. The chieftess panted and paused to orient. She and Iida had walked a long way to the cliffs and she was not sure if- A rustling to her right scared her to leap behind a boulder, she leaned against. Shortly after, she saw the warm light of a torch gleaming in the darkness. "Hello?", she couldn't believe this gentle wheezing was her, when Tui's voice called back.  
  
"Moana?!"  
  
Allowing her weakness to finally show itself, Moana dropped in her father’s arms. "Thank the gods, I found you!" His warm hand seemed cold against her face. "You are burning up!" He looked down at her frail shape, before attemting to lift her off her feet.   
"No! .. No need to. I can walk. ... ", Moana objected calmly. " .. Did Iida .. "

  
Tui sighed deeply to her stubborness, but nodded. "Yes. She came to me right away. ... But, the story she told ... ", he wanted to ask, but a second look in her tired face convinced him otherwise. Together they started walking, while Moana wanted to endure the last miles by herself. "... Father?", Moana suddenly broke the silence between them and waited for his humming response. " ... Does Maui know?"  
  
" ...  _The shape-shifter_  hasn't shown himself lately.", Tui huffed not very keen.  
Moana minded him with a short frown." _Maui._ ", she reminded him in a slight scolding tone, shutting him down. "His name is  _Maui._ "

  
\----------------------

 

Speaking of such ...   
  
The Demigod had waited one hour on the beach tied up in his thoughts and silent confrontation with his inner self and had left soon after into the woods. He had felt the touch of Moana’s hand longer than it had lasted and the image of her wouldn't go away. The way she had looked at him in a certain way - or had it just been his imagination? - remembered him why he had never wanted to set foot on this island again. He had wanted to forget it. All those awful memories seemed to hurl down on him like a falling tree he couldn't dodge. It was clear to him that the loss of his birdie-shape and the origin of the fog were connected. ‘ _It did actually work, huh.’_ , the shape-shifter thought while studying the wafts of mist. Moana had been right to tell him not to bring his hook. The last time he had used it, the magic was drained out of him, as soon as he tried to remember. Come to speak of it, now that he knew what had happened to him, he didn't really feel the urge to  _do_  something about it. All this time, he had tried to figure out how to be loved by the people and Te Fiti’s heart had been his last shot. His very last attempt. After this, he had thought it might be time to do something just for himself. Something big to ease his deeply hidden tiredness, which had grown larger the moment he had set eyes on Moana. To him 50 years were just a gulp and no spell or blessing could shatter the shackles of loss.   
  
Maui wiped a palm over his face, kneating his forehead, " _Urgs!_  ... All this brooding makes my face wrinkly.", and looked down to his chest. "Do I look older to you?" Mini-Maui turned his wrist a few times. " _Balls._ " , he cursed and rolled off the boulder he was laying on like a lash sack. At least the three days were over soon and he'd be reunited with his beloved hook again. At this point he didn't feel like keeping his promise to Moana anymore. "No!", he shut Tiny up, who was about to show his disagreement. Having her around had been fun in the past, but now it was just nagging.   
  
"You know it's better this way. ... ", Maui added more gently and patted his chest. "Don't let me hang, buddy. Will ya' ?"   
  
Mini-Maui stopped whatever he was doing and hung his head. The huge man cracked his neck and wheezed instensely to let out his frustration. "... That girl is killing me.", he mumbled, before stepping away from the trees. Time to go back and wait for Bubbles to bring me my hook. He could already feel it in his skilled hands. He would just take it and leave her be, then he'd do whatever he still would have to offer and ban this mean hag out of existance! He never should've brought them here and the sooner he got back the better. Moana would surely wake up soon. Or, what was more likely, she didn't sleep at all to wait for him on their canoe. He had to grin to the thought, but shook it off very fast, when he heard shouting from the beach. Branches and leaves cracked before him, when he burst out of the jungle, to see Chief Tui supporting an injured Moana down the cliffs. The Demigod's heart skipped a beat.  
  
Sina, and the beach-boy,  _whatshisname_ , were quicker to lend a hand. "Moana, what-", His eyes fell on her moist naked features gleaming golden in the torchlight.  _Badum._ Mini-Maui covered his eyes and was thrown off his hills by one strong beating of his heart. He never had dared to imagine how her body might've changed over time _._ She was  _beautiful_  ... Her brea-  _exposed chest_  were tight blossoms, which had grown beneath her tapa. It made his insides go up in flames and pulsed down  _lower_ , dazed him on the spot, that he stared at  _them_  without noticing.Tiny's slap on his arm shook him back into the now, dragging his eyes into Tui's knowing and less amused expression. Busted the Demigod shook off the foolish face he was making and cleared his throat. "What happened?"  
  
Tui and Iida wouldn't let him express his concerns on the spot and carried Moana the last bit, where she finally could come to rest. Some of the people now had waken to the turmoil and woke the healers to tend to her pulled wade. A taste of anger on her tongue kept her from saying anything. Moana had seen the look on his face and she couldn't shake off the blush residing on her cheeks, though hidden by a fever. When the young chief could cover her chest again, she told her story, and why it was urgent for them to move further inland - without any breeze, there was only one option left-, she felt Maui's eyes in her back. Moana herself hated being away from the sea, everyone knew that, and maybe it was the reason why her father listened in the end. Quick and quiet the Motunuians awoke and moved family, by family deeper into the jungle. Watching her people from her spot, she heard big feet closing in out of the shadows behind her. Moana knew who it was and didn't move, when Maui sat down next to her.   
  
"How do you feel?", his voice was a caring mumble.  
"I don't know.", she threw a short look at him. She had wanted to shout at him for everything. He had endangered them by keeping Ro'e a secret, not telling what kind of wrong he did in the past. Did he think she would've have understood? What the old voices and Tala had told her was still present.  _Did he really left his wife to starve?_ Moana minded him with piercing eyes. It wouldn't make a difference if she informed him what she knew. Even if she relished him being with her, she couldn't shake off the rage Ro'e had shown her in the tunnel. Some things she had seen through _her_  eyes. She had seen him, acting horribly, in a much darker light, not recognizable. She wasn't sure if her anger towards him was even hers or  _Ro'e_  telling her how to feel. One thing though was still unchanged. ...   
  
"Looks like you'll have to set sail alone.", she murmured, while the sky turned to a hushed green. With her bad leg and the fever she caught, she wouldn't be able to go with him. She felt the slight breeze his hair was blowing towards her, when he turned his head, but she didn't look at him. His answer darted her heart. "Looks like it." Moana leered at him and swallowed pleadings for him to stay a little bit longer. Maybe wait a few days for her recovery, but they had a deal of three days which would be over by sundown. It seemed like it wasn't meant to be for them to venture again.  _Nothing_ of it seemed  _meant to be._  
  
He hadn't looked at her, when she had told most of Ro'e’s story, but she hadn't put him in a bad light only once and guilt choked him badly. She had said, she had a plan how to help him and was still eager to, even if he didn't deserve any of it. Neither having her around, nor her always helpful and empathic nature. Compared to him, she was entirely pure, like the ocean. Maui turned a careful gaze to his  _friend_ , imagining how it would feel to touch her. Moana crossed his gaze, he quickly looked away as if there was something more interesting in the shadows. "I'll check tomorrow if the eel shows up again.", he said all of a sudden to kill the silence between them. "Can't leave you here with it, can I?"   
  
"Did you know it was here?", shot out of her and hit him like gleaming iron.  
" _No!_ ", he stated somewhat hurt and stared at her, his raven locks dangling over his shoulder. Even though Moana wanted to believe him - the look he gave her was intensely persuasive - he had shown in the past that he didn't trust her enough to tell her everything. Most of the time he seemingly didn't want to be around her at all. Was he missing his freedom and was she just the one who would keep them apart? "I wouldn't just let you run towards doom without any warning!"   
  
" _ **Yet you-**_ ", she stopped herself from shouting at him. " ... You knew about the fog and led us here anyway! You knew about Ro'e."  
" _Don't! ..._ Don't just say her name, she could hear you."   
"She already  _did!_ ", Moana snarled back and shut up a wide-eyed Demigod. "She knows we're here! She called my name in the dark, trapped me in- ... My dreams? I don't know! I also believe she played with my mother’s life!" As she mentioned Sina the shape-shifter flinched. Realizing the guilty look in his eyes, she sighed deeply. She could tell Maui considered Sina as a friend and that he didn't want to see neither of them get hurt.  _No chance for you, doubt!_  
  
"Maui.", it only left her lips with much courage. "I don't understand why you would keep this curse a secret and I don't care  _why!_ "  _Ouch.  
_ "But what was just  _nagging_  your  _ego_ , is now not only endangering  _you_  or  _me_  or my people, but also a threat to  _both_  realms.", when she saw he was not willing to listen to her hurtful words, she seized his wrist. "Ignoring it will only make it worse." The young chieftess softened her grip, when their eyes locked again. "We have to stick together in this, no matter how we feel."

Maui paused, holding his breath and exhaling his accrued pain and anger. One single word though sticked out of the blame she just threw at him and it stuck out like a branch in the sand. Distracting him. It almost sounded like she was still wanting him to stay. He relaxed his features and started to smile. " _We?_ ", Maui sheepishly raised a brow at her. This simple word made her pause. He could see a vortex of swirling thoughts in her eyes, like stars being sucked down a maelstrom. Chieftess Moana looked at him through her struggle and was touched by the knowing grin he gave her. Blood shot right into her cheeks, turning them pink and shy she started to play with her hair.    
"If ... If you still want to go, though ... " Moana had to turn away, saving her bit of pride from his gaze, otherwise she'd do something she might regret. " ... It's not like I could stop you."   
  
His chuckle was a welcomed change in this darkened hour and caught her off guard. A big, strong hand patted her back, drove the air out of her lungs and threw her hair around her face. " _Aw_ , now that you ask so  _nicely_!", he giggled at her fidgeting. " ... Guess you don't have to."    
  
Moana looked at him in surprise, then happiness shone through. It was nice to know that their connection seemed to be stronger than pain, loss or fear. Moana felt like nothing could break the strand between them now, for it grew stronger. What kind of man he used to be a thousand years ago, wasn't her concern anymore. She had learned to love him for who he was  _now_  and nothing could change that.  _Love?_ echoed it in a shy tone. Yes, now she was certain. She did fall in love with the Demigod over time and it wasn't just a young notion or the  _idea of a romance_. The fire inside her had grown by itself without her consent and with the insight came a huge wave of thrill. Two smiles faded away slowly, as both of them took note of the strand pulling them an inch closer.   
  
Tui's cough popped the quiet bubble that had shielded them from the outer world for a moment. Tui had watched them quite some time and now eyed them with a warning frown. Moana desperatly tried to stop her heart from racing, while Maui blew his cheeks, awkwardly clearing his throat and damning the blood in his face. "Well. Yes.  _Uhm._ ", he mumbled and got up, trying to find a suitable escape. "Oh, look.  _A distraction!_ ", and he wandered off to help the people set up their new camp. Moana chuckled, but swallowed hard, when she saw into his father’s displeased face. She fought the urge to look after him, for her father was still watching her closely. Tui eyed the shape-shifter suspiciously, then his daughter, and she feared he'd say something to her, but he didn't.  
  
"... You should get some sleep.", he sighed.

 

 


	13. Nisan kafa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "nisan kafa" means 'comet'
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> :::::::::::::::UPDATES:::::::::::::::
> 
> :::::::::VENTURE CAREFULLY:::::::::   
> \- Baby Alarm! -  
> I'm trying to be as discrete as possible.

Sudden heavy rain poured down like the gods wringed out the clouds and sent the people off beneath the freshly built shelters. The damp air felt like trying to breath in cotton fibres. Moana sat in the shadow of large trees, huge bread tree leaves saved her from any falling water, and stared down at her work with grinting teeth and a frown that could only belong to the chief of morning-grouches. She had a more or less good night sleep and didn't startle up once, but she had been plagued with nightmares she could not remember and felt how it echoed in her mind. Moana’s head was full with past events and couldn't concentrate to sew large pieces of reddish tapa together. Her leg didn't hurt anymore when she kept it relaxed, but prevented her from landing a hand to her people like she wanted. She wished she could've led the wayfinders she and Tui had send out to scout out the area for any traces the huge eel had left behind. When nobody was looking, she tested if pain would come to her leg - yepp. Moana hissed and annoyed put it back to rest.   
  
" _Moana._ " her mother’s warning mumbled as she closed in with a bundle of more tissue wrapped up in her arms. She complained rumbling and placed her chin in her palm like a pouting girl. "Give it some time.", Sina sighed melodious, while handling the tapa in her hands. "The more you move it, the more it'll take."   
  
"I can't stand being useless.", she growled.  
"You're not useless, Moana. You know that.", her mother looked up to her, starting to stitch the material together.  
"I should be out there  _with_  them!", Moana gestured to the north, before tending to the needle again. " .. not sitting here, doing nothing ..."   
" _This_  is not nothing!", she declared proudly smiling and lifted the sewed tapa to show how far she was.   
  
The chieftess rolled her eyes with a half smile.   
Moana had wanted to do  _something_ , so she had felt like sewing. Chieftesses can do that too! Nothing  _special_  about it! She did most of her own clothes by herself so why not doing it for someone else? She had to hurry until the scouting parties returned, so she had asked her mother for help and she was glad Sina didn't ask further questions. Nonetheless, she did have a notion that Sina already knew and didn't have to ask. "Thank you for helping me.", Moana said low.   
" _You're welcome._ " her mother grinned when using Maui's phrase.   
" _Mother!_ " , Mo wheezed annoyed.   
"Okay, okay ... I'll stop.", she gave in huffing. "But may I ask-"  
"Mom. .. I don't want to talk right now.", she didn't want to be rude. It was just, she wished her mother would stop bringing up anything about Maui. Like she urged her to interact with him. She knew Sina had a soft spot for the Demigod, but she couldn't believe Sina would act even close to a  _fan-girl._  On the other hand her mother was known for her caring and motherly nature towards many. She loved children, as well as she could handle fighting men, by making them shake hands. Sometimes Moana wished her mother would act less like she was a salve, she could put on people to heal them. ‘ _Was she trying to do the same for Maui?_ ’, she wondered. She knew Sina hadn't been very keen with his  _back_ -story and a look on her swollen belly reminded her why. The young chief huffed and hung her heavy skull. "... I'm sorry."   
"No harm done. I understand.", Sina's gaze was peaceful nonetheless.   
  
Sina had witnessed an intense debate between Tui and their daughter this morning, when they sent out their people. Moana had wanted to accompany them and had argued that Maui could just carry her on his back, but Tui had forbidden it. With right, for Moana was ill. Sina knew he didn't trust the shape-shifter one bit with keeping a certain distance to Moana. The mother understood that he could not prevent anything from happening in the future and had tried to ease his caginess. She remembered the day when she and Tui were much younger and how his parents hadn't been able to fight it. " ... Tui is just being protective of you."   
"Mh?", dazzled by the sudden turn of topic, she looked up. "What-  ... I know, mom! That's the  _point_! I'm chief of this island and he treats me like a teenager!"  
"I wasn't talking about that.", Sina explained with a knowing gaze.   
  
Moana felt her heart skip a beat again. Last night had been quite a tour and she was wondering what might've happened if Tui hadn't interrupted them. Tui would never stop trying to control her and she felt like being 16 again. He ougtha know Moana was most capable of choosing the right way! She had known back then it was forbidden to fish past the reef!  _"But you still do"_ , her mother had said at the beach. Moana paused. What had happened yesterday was all the same. She knew it wasn't possible, yet she wanted to try ether way. Even if it meant only to stick tapa with needles. Maybe she could try showing her emotions through actions, like Iida did, even if the young chief hadn't told him. Yet. She knew she couldn't stomp out the little warm sensation whenever she heard Maui's laugh. Moana couldn't prevent the shy smile from forming and her cheeks from blushing. " ... I knew it ... ", she heard Sina’s sigh. Moana couldn't speak and curled her lips.   
" ... Does he know?"  
Touched by her own emotions, she silently shook her head. 

\----------------------

Two days they had been on the way now and - oh wonder! - no sign of this maggot.  
The shape-shifter had kept mostly to himself, except for bragging about how a  _real wayfinder!_  and other, less capable people should act once a monster shows up. He couldn't say his company was  _unexperienced_ ,but  _beach-boy_  had some serious flaws to fill. ‘ _Whoops’_ , he thought and sneered over his shoulder towards him-  _her!_  If beach-boy wouldn't wear tapa round the chest, Maui wouldn't be able to tell if she was a man or a woman. Iida’s androgynic features weren't ugly to look at, but like a rough shell, mostly worn by men. That, and she didn't like him. Not. A. Bit. He could tell by her ignoring him. While the other scouts did cheer for his daring stunts in the wilds once in a while, Iida only eyed him like a gorilla with diarrhea. Wasn't like it bothered him. In his long life he had encountered two sorts of people.  _Fans_  and  _Haters. Beach-Boy_  wasa typical _hater. Scout-boy  A, B and C_ \- he hadn't listened when they introduced themselves- slight  _fans_.  Mr. Curly,  _hater._  Mrs. Curly a  _fan._ Moana ...  _Uhm._ Maui took note, that he couldn't sort Moana in any of the two categories. She was special and clearly belonged not even in between and it nagged him, that he couldn't find a fitting name for the third sort. He'd think of something later, now he had to keep tracking down this monster threatening her people, so he leaped down in a perfect landing. Maui flung his raven locks back like a hero does and he imagined how he must look like and got the answer told by the look  _beach-boy_  gave him.  _Good_  was an understatement! It seemed to bug her having him around and it dared him to poke her even further.   
  
They had already covered most lava caverns and tunnels by the shore and found nothing but rough stone and foggy shores. The cliff where Moana and beach-boy had encountered the beast had shown no traces of slime, only wounded earth. "See.  _I told you!_ " , beach-boy barked, pointing to the gaps.   
" _Very good!_ ", he scoffed. "And when you shout even  _louder_ , we might actually  _find_  it!"  
Iida let this one pass by, crouching down and scanning the area. "If the ocean didn't kill it."   
"Sure it didn't!", grinning Maui rolled his eyes at him-  _her!_  " _I_  remember  _every_  stinky inch I pulled out of it's gullet. One wave is hardly enough!"  
"What do _you_  know?" Unnerved Iida leered at him and stood again, rushing past his arm. "You havn't even been there."  
Maui curled his lips and grunted amüsed. " _Noo_ , but I fought it before! You know?  _Maui_ , who gave you coconuts?"  
"And  _how_  do coconuts and palms trees help us  _now_?", she sneered past her shoulder unimpressed.   
" _Oh, 'a dunno._ ", Maui rumbled with a smirk and leaned casually to a palm. "By feeding humanity maybe?"  
Right at the moment, when Maui thought her to be too hard to crack, the buff woman turned around with a harsh frown.  
" _Very_  impressed here!", she scoffed sarcastically.   
" _Thank you, thank you._ ", The Demigod gestured a swirling hand and bowed, ignoring the angry, reddish spots in her face. "What can I say. I do my best."  
At this point scout A and B had realized the uprising tension between Iida and the shape-shifter and awkwardly looked at each other. They knew the temper the buff woman posessed and feared the worst. " _Should we warn him?_ ", scout A asked in a hushed tone. " _Nah. .. He has to learn too._ ", scout B responded equally quiet. So they sat and watched Iida's anger giving birth to a speech. "Your _best?!_ ", she started snarling like a wildcat. "You _brag_  and you _talk?_ Is that  _it?!_ "  
" _Heere_  we go.", Maui shrugged bored and narrowed his eyes at her.  
Like expected his arrogant demeanor didn't do him any favor with this one. "Oh, you want  _more?_ ", she narrowed her head and widened her eyes, nodding. "As you wish,  _Demigod Maui! "_ Maui didn't move an inchand slowly blinked like being sung to. "In case you didn't notice, while having your arse in the clouds: There are actual people who work hard to survive even though you did all these fantastic things! Thank you very much! And oh, lets not forget about the heroism of how we had to live for 16 generations in fear and isolated from other tribes, because all you could think about was how to add another trophy to your collection,  _Thank you!_ " The Demigod wasn't surprised at all she'd try to dig deeper into his thick skull. He knew she didn't know the half of it and it left him mostly cold. Iida wasn't finished yet though. "But the  _best_  thing about your story is, how a 16-year-old girl had to clean up the mess you left behind!"   
Maui's mouth corner slightly twitched. "... Wow.  _Ouch._ "   
_  
"Do you think she's going to tear him apart here or later?",_  scout B whispered.   
_"Hm ... 'dunno ... ",_ scoutA responded and took another look.  
_" .. I think-"_ scout C's wish to speak was quickly drowned in a " _Shhh!"_

"Okay, okay, listen here,  _beach-boy_! You forgot something important!", Maui chuckled at her like she was being immature and needed a lecture. "It was _me_  who taught Curly all the wonders of wayfinding, so she could even get past Te Kā and teach _you_  little fellas-" , smiling he turned his head towards the bushes, where the scouts sat and gave a friendly wave. They waved back and kept on betting who'd win the fight. " _I like these guys..._ " , the shape-shifter looked back at her angry features. "So, practically, what you need to say is ' _Thank you, Maui, Shape-Shifter, Demi-God of the Sea, Hero to All, for aiding Moana of Motunui!'_ "  
  
"You wouldn't even  _ **Be**_  here without her!", Iida’s sudden rush of fury now seemed to reach the shape-shifter at his wall. Tiny slowly tilted his head up to Maui, when Iida lunged her words at him. "Moana- The chief has to fight so hard to keep her people,  _her family_ , alive. Sina and her child almost died, because of  _ **You!**_ "  Anger began to rise in his chest as she mentioned the soon-to-be mother of two and his brow twitched. " _Still_  she trusts you! And that's why we're here!  _It's All Your Fault!_ And  _still_  you keep doing nothing to make it better!"  
  
" _Woah!_  I am here, ain't I!?", he finally started to defend himself. "What do you expect me to do, beach-boy? Poop  _magical butterflies_ , who'll zap us to the eel's lair?", and flicked his fingers. Iida stared at him for a moment. "... And here you keep  _talking!_ " She spat and turned her back on him. "I don't understand why Moana has so much faith in you. Some  _Demigod_  you are!"   
  
The look he threw in her strong back could've shaken a baby out of blaring and a shadow crawled slowly over his eyes. He wasn't sure anymore if beach-boy would even fit as a normal hater. He took note that the vengeful woman strangely had actual reasons to hate him. The way she always used to leer at him, while being around Moana could only mean two things. With parted lips he gaped at her and the following words left Iida paralyzed. " ...  _You are jealous!_ "   
Maui saw a certain shudder running over her arms and it reasured him even more. When Iida spun around, her jaw dropped to object - Scout A and B had a similar expression -he laughed at her. " _Ohh hehehe!_  You are!" , The shape-shifter giggled very amused. " _Aw! Beach-Boy!_  I knew you had a soft spot for some buff studs!" He high fived Tiny on his arm, while the woman grimaced at him like she was about to sneeze. " _ **Noo!**_ ", the disgust in her tone was nothing he could ignore and made him speechless. "Chief Moana may find you  _charming_ , but I have spent much time learning about the likes of  _you!_ "  
  
He had to admit, he had been wrong about Iida all along. She was neither man, nor woman. She was a jealous sea cucumber. But if she wasn't jealous of Moana. ... Maui's tooth gap showed for the last time, before they would part ways. " ... You have a crush on her.", he said mumbling, though he knew she heard it by watching her falter again. Not sure who the winner was, scout A and B just exchanged two of their personal items and kept on scanning the area. Hours passed without a sign of the eel. No slime puddles, no trails alongside the beaches, no scales laying around, only fog that made their hair stick to their skin and  _white, white, white, grey, white._  So it was not unusual that their moods were jaded at the end of the long day. Silence ruled over their camp, when Maui shifted his fluffy head toward Iida. " ... You know ... We're not  _that_  bad."  
She sighed deeply and rolled her eyes towards him. If there was anger in her left, it already had gone to sleep.  
" _Men._ ", he added as if she didn't understand what he meant. " _Ooor_  ... You actually meant me, while pointing at everything of ...  _me._ "   
"I did.", came back shortly. She didn't even felt guilty for being rude.   
"Hey! Can't you see I'm trying to be placatory here?", Maui whined complaining. "You're hurting my  _manly feelings._  ... All two of them."   
To Iida’s miscomfort, a small and amused grunt escaped her throat and she looked away until the grin disappeared. The Demigod took note that he hit the right joke to loosen this tight frown in her face. Then she sighed. "I apologize. For earlier.", again the buff woman wouldn't look at him, like he would do to hide any emotions. "No harm done."    
"So ...", he paused, so she would look at him. " Are you going to explain your hate  _for the likes of me_  ... Or don't you do  _back-story?_ "   
Iida gazed at him like counting a flock of birds against the sun. Was she trying to read him? Maui'd like to see her try.   
  
The buff woman inhaled and traced her thumbs along her spear.  
" ... My father was ... ", she hesitated a bit, thinking again if she should tell him. He let her the time she needed. ".. confident, headstrong ... always tried to prove he was the best, and worked for it. He also was very proud of himself. Just like you.", she leered at him shortly to know if he'd take this even seriously. " ... and having a son, who would follow in his perfect footsteps was something he expected. ... He got  _me._ " Silence fell like heavy rain as Maui listened to her carefully. He had been curious about this buff whim of nature from the start and was glad she actually did open herself to him, yet he hadn't expected it. " ... So all my life I was pushed by him to straighten my image, and not showing any emotions, not caring about others,  _'harsh but righteous.'_  he called it ... "   
  
The Demigod twisted his lips and nodded slightly moved. Maui couldn't comprehend how it felt like to even have a real parent, but he didn't envy Iida for her family story. When he had watched Moana and Sina interact with each other, he had figured that's what he had needed as a child. "That's heavy."  
" ... the thing is, ... all this time, even if he felt like it, he never  _wasted_  a moment in showing that he _cared_. ... He  _talked_  and did nothing."   
"... I  _do_  care." , Maui looked at her like a beat dog.   
"But you don't show it.", Iida said without any evil undertone and caught his gaze so he could receive her advice. " ... And Moana ... ", Iida seemed to falter as her words wanted to crawl back to her throat, but she shoved them out eitherway. "I know she likes you ... " Maui's heart began pounding, creating an earth quake around Tiny, that his hills crumbled and fell into the sea. A few nights ago he had seen in Moana’s eyes a truth he had promised to prevent. Yet the Demigod, with all his past wonders, wasn't sure how to do so. How could he bring himself to destroy something that felt so ...   
  
Understanding that he just let his facial guard down, he wanted to respond, but beach-boy was too busy talking all important. " You say you are the Demigod of the wind and sea. You used to embody  _freedom_  itself. ... yet you refuse to take action." The shape-shifter exchanged a counselling gaze with Tiny, when the strange notion came to his mind, that this conversation took an unawaited turn. Maui frowned, she was actually telling him to approach Moana! Talk to her? He couldn't do that! Allthough what the woman just said made a cargo load of sense, he had his reasons not to follow this philosophy. "So. ... Don't just waste your time slinking around her ... The chief deserves that much. "  
  
It was like all his inner voices screamed at him to free himself of those shackles and finally tell her the truth!  _And what might that be?_ , asked a blazing flame inside him and boiled the blood in his temples. A long time, the shape-shifter had considered himself mentally different from the mortals. The way he viewed humanity with all its flaws had never felt wrong to him, until Moana. Unil now. That _thing_  he felt wasn't just his instincts. It was brighter, glistening like a comet about to hit him. Whatever happened inside him, he knew it had started with her and that night had pointed out to what it could become, if he wasn't caged by his own fears. ‘ _Weird’_ , he thought. All his life he had been hunting for love, and now it turned out that he actually was running from it? The comet hit, Mini-Maui drew a heart-shape around a lovely Mini-Mo and Maui's face turned red. Suddenly he got an idea how to call the third sort of people. It did make sense.  _Not Tension, not Hunger._ It was more than that. It was unseen, should be buried deep within his aching heart. But doing nothing wouldn't make anything better, would it? But how could he tell her, after Moana had seen how he treated other girls? She wouldn't even believe him! ... Love was cruel. It was pure, hot  _agony,_  a curse which would be held by anyone who is touched by it. While his belly-tattoo started frying Tiny's little feet and boiling Mini-Mos waves, he knew what he should do. He could not keep it to him, he had to spill it.   
  
" ... Moana deserves someone better than the likes of me.", Maui mumbled huffing and abashed rubbed his neck. Iida was right about him,  _mostly._ All this bragging and bloating was beneath his chieftess. Moana should have someone in her age and not some cliché of a Demigod having  _fun_  around humanity. No, she was too precious and her life too short to waste for someone like him ... " ... Do you love her?" , Iida’s question made the ground shake beneath Mini-Maui's feet again and all he could do was dropping his head in submission. A black, silky courtain bordered his eyes, as if he tried to hide his pain painted expression.

" _... ... yes. ..._  "

Inside the bushes, scout A and B looked at the scenery with dark eyes, while C was smirking widely. Silence, nothing happened. C waited, then punched both of his companions. Growling they handed him his two, new knives.   
  
\-------------

However tense their journey had started, on their way back the bickering seemed to have finally stopped besides a few mocking phrases here and there. Iida had the charisma of a stiff moai, but the Demigod figured it might just be her face. They hadn't mentioned last night’s conversation the whole morning. What else was there to say to it? Maui had heard her words and had weighed them carefully. He came to the conclusion that there was more to Iida’s resentfulness. She wasn't just jealous, but disappointed that someone who  _embodies freedom_ wouldn't use the opportunity to do what she couldn't.  Iida had confided him with Moana knowing about her feelings and both seemed to have fully accepted it. When he thought about it, if Iida wouldn't only act, but actually _be_  a man, she'd go for it right away! A little green-eyed-monster crackled inside him while Tiny was bugged by a Kakamora. Maybe it wouldn't do any harm to inform his little chieftess how he truly felt about her after all? It surely would change a lot for both of them, but it hadn't necessarily to be for the bad. Maui got a nudge from Tiny. "Hm?" His little inkish self showed him his version of a perfect fall to his knees while holding Mini-Mos hand. " _Pff! Nah! Stahp!_ " , he grimaced embarrasingly touched and blushed. "Momo won't fall for  _that!_ "   
  
Mini-Him raised a finger and flicked many stars above Mini-Moana, where they sat down. He tip-toed his hand behind Mini-Mo and pulled her close. " ... Tried that already. In case you forgot!", the shape-shifter gnarled. " .. Mr. Curly has his spies  _everywhere._  ... ", he leered at Iida. She had witnessed his self-conversation from the beginning and her confused stare became a fast, dark frown. Tiny scratched his head, as a torch above his head appeared and caught fire. Maui watched closely, when Tiny held tiny Mo by her hands to lead her to a beautiful lagoon and confessed his feelings for her. Maui wrinkled his nose and blew his nostrils. "You make it sound  _so easy._ "  
  
When the sun stood high and flooded the mist around them in a hushed golden shimmer, five shadowy figures emerged on the last hill, until the sharp stone would lead down into the bay, where the Motunuians resided. They were high enough for him to see a few deep blue spots of sky and the amazing view brought him to stand and smile brightly.  
Scout A, B and C went past him, but Iida stayed for a while at the shape-shifter’s side. It was a breathtaking vista and she did relish it too, in a quiet, moai-gorilla-faced way. As she turned her head and sightly nudged his arm with her spear, she said. "It'll be better once you tell her."  
  
Maui eyed her suspiciously and raised a brow. " ... Why do I have the feeling you only want a reason to hit me with stuff?"  
"And target practice.", Iida added dryly.  
  
The Demigod bridled at her with a raised brow. ‘ _What?’  
_ "If you hurt her, I'll kill you.", she annouced and patted the pole against his chest. A short smile played on her lips, when she turned to go.  
"  _... target practice?_ ", he wheezed in a high pitched tone. "Target practice." he analysed the meaning of those 14 letters, then all his facial features dripped apart. " _You?!_ "  
  
Iida threw a victorious glare back in his face. Yes, it had been her who had shot him with the blow-dart and she didn't feel any remorse or even tried to keep it a secret. That's for calling her beach-boy all the time. Maui's wide eyes showed the old anger he almost had forgotten, but then he gently shook his head, mumbling. "Hm, that was so well done, I'm not even mad at you."  
  
When they kept on going, they could already see the three scouts reaching the beach and excited shouts their ears. Something was happening down there. Maui and Iida exchanged a startled look, when Tui supported Sina down the beach and a limping Moana close behind. Iida made a sound Maui thought wouldn't be possible, as she almost flew down. " _Ouh?!_ " The Demi-God stayed on the spot and sat, watching, as Sina hunched down into the water. It had been about time! He didn't want to be too noisy, though he was very curious about it all! He never had witnessed a birth before, so who could blame him for caring how his friends were doing? Iida reached them, helping Moana to stay on her feet, though  _Bubbles_  seemed to be calm. Cries of pain sizzled in his ears and he went even lower. "C'mon, Sina. ... " He didn't understand what happened inside him, as he couldn't bring himself from looking away, like he tried to give her strength with his gaze. When it was over and Sina held a tiny, pink human with both her arms, he couldn't help but smile brigthly down at them.  
  
The first child born in the new world was a healthy boy with copper skin, flat, ebony hair no urge to express any blaring. Tenderly held in his mother’s arms, that tiny being lifted a tired lid. Tui and Sina cried silent tears of joy, as she waved Moana to them into the gentle waves, her world became a whole nuance brighter. She couldn't wait to take a look at her new sibling and left Iida’s supporting hand. Emotions hit her like a huge wave.  
  
" ..  _Ooh mooom._ ", she squealed with glittering eyes, covering her gaping simper. " .. he is _beautiful_..."   
Tui was speechless, as he tenderly stroked his new son’s head and when the boy opened his eyes to look who disturbed him, his family skipped breathing. The cliffs above them cheered a decent  _"Chee-Hoo!"_  and distracted them for a moment. Sina and Moana began laughing, while Tui only smiled half-way and shook his head.

 

 

 


	14. Kira

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kira" means "call"

Sina named the boy Kaiko, for he had been strong at sea and would now keep her family bonds like strong ties. To the Motunuians this little wonder was hope and future in the aftermath. To Moana however her little brother was love at first sight. She could not stop gently rubbing her nose against his tiny head. " You are so cuuute." , she cheeped, almost tortured by her feelings. "Now, now, Moana.", said her father low and held his hands open.  
  
"Don't eat him, will you?" The young chieftess could hardly hand him his own son and huffing cooled her burning cheeks with her hands.  
"What is happening to mee.", she flung herself around, grinning from ear to ear like a drunken dolphin. "How is he doing that?"  
"You should've seen your father when you were born." Sina chuckled and leaned back tiredly. "Couldn't stop wheezing, even lie down for a minute once you made a sound."  
"I'm right here you know?", Tui implied, only having eyes for Kaiko, letting him grip his finger.  
  
Moana watched the touched face of her usual stiff father and it warmed her heart to see something else than sorrow and lecture in his gaze. It almost was a perfect image, if it weren't for the broad, green head of a lizard skewing behind Tui's back, carefully looking over his shoulder at the baby. Moana's grin froze, as busted, yellow eyes stared back at her. The lizard grinned ankwardly touched and sneakily pulled it's head back out of sight, while Moana watched with one raised nasal wing. The young chief never thought Maui would have any interest in newborn children and she wondered if it had something to do with his friendship towards Sina. It was kind of unexpected and  _cute_  of him. For a Demigod. With a blush taking hold of her cheeks, she rose slowly from her spot.  
  
" _Well!_  ... I'll go and  _check_  ... if anybody needs anything,  _sooo ..._  ", young Chief Moana tried a wide hobble, if her leg would let her. This morning her prayers of healing had been answered. She could still feel a little tension in her muscle, once she rolled her foot, but it got better every day. Moana ignored the crossed look Tui gave her, for he knew who she wanted to meet. Thanks to her brother’s birth he finally would stop fuzzing around her for a change. "Thank you, Kaiko!", she chirmed and tried to follow the small traces Lizard-Maui had left behind. The young chieftess had expected of him to already having gotten his hook from the ocean and according to Iida, they hadn't found any tracks of the monster. With now having to protect Kaiko, she was happy Maui was fully equipped again.  
  
Moana found him laying on a lazily low hanging palm bole, like presenting himself to her. She stared at him for a moment she felt was being too long. Her hands twitched as the notion to run her hands over his buff torso crossed her, making her breath unsteady. A winsome grin greeted her as she huffed and let herself down beneath him. She didn't see how he received the jubilant expression she carried around like a single sun stream. This was the smile he had missed and it warmed his heart. Maui let it pounding and didn't realize how his gaze became somewhat moony. He could watch her smiling like that for hours. While magical hearts fluttered like butterflies around Tiny, she caught him and smiled even brighter. Moana rolled her eyes around slightly prompting. "What?"   
  
The Demigod hid behind a smug grin and shrugged. "Just enjoying the sun."  
Moana looked up, the sun was nowhere to be seen from here. It did break through the canopy in some streams and played with shadows and painted the mist with warm dots, but he didn't look at them - he looked straight at  _her_. " _Pff, shaddahp!_ ", she giggled and timidly turned away to hide the blushing of her whole face. Moana's heart was playing like a drum and she tried to distract herself by fiddling with her curls. It didn't work so much as it used to.  
"How's your club-foot?"  
_‘Why does he always know what to say?’_ she thought sarcastically and raised a brow at him. " _Betteerrr?_  ... ", she was still smiling and wouldn't let go of the images of him being closer to her.  _Just a bit._  Moana swallowed down a gasp. " ... Just a day more and we can be on our way."  
"You sure you wanna' go already?", The shape-shifter let himself slump down to stretch his cracking neck. "A' mean .. 'cause of your brother 'n all."  
  
"Well,", she huffed. "The eel is still a problem ... But I have thought about it and I believe I know how to lure it out."  
Interested he leaned over the palm with crossed arms. "Let's hear it?"  
  
"Well, just like you did back then."   
  
" _Yeah._ " Maui lifted his brows and blew his cheeks. "You don't want to see me doing  _that._ "  
" _Why?_  ... ", snoopy Moana tilted her head and prepared for a huge eruption. She almost didn't want to ask. " .. What did you do?"  
He chuckled too much for her to understand his mumbling answer.  _"uhm ._  I  _mpfn mhm._ "    
The chief pulled her ear at him. "What was that?"  
Maui couldn't hold back his laughter any longer. " ... Let me put it this way. ", he caught a breath. "Iii  _pissed_  him off."  
" _ **MAUI!**_ ", Moana shouted, laughing hard, she pendled to the ground. " _EW!_ "   
"What?!", he snorted in defense, but chuckled hoarsly. "It worked!"  
  
Chief Moana put a palm over her head as if she could hide her snorting laughter. Hearing it made their chattering even louder. " _I- I can't believe it._ ", she shuddered trying to relax her midriff. " _Buut,_  if it takes only that to really get rid of it." , but she couldn't keep a serious face. "After that we can  _dump it somewhere ..._  " , she squeezed out in a high pitched wheezing. The Demigod’s face grew wider as air filled his cheeks and he grunted laughing. "Pfpfpf  _Curly!_ Language!"   
"It's because of  _your nasty_  influence!", she cackled, jumping to her feet and pushed his shoulder. The Demigod giggled at his chieftess, trying to duck away. It would've seemed a little awkward for someone to watch them frolicking around like shy teenagers, but they wouldn't have minded. Demigod and chieftess enjoyed being silly for a change, until she sighed deeply and rubbed down her face. " _Okay, okay. Focus._ ", Moana breathed, walking around.  
  
"Everything strange happened only at night. And the eel appeared after I went into the grotto ... "  
Maui rubbed his broad chin and threw a mind reading look in her face. "You think something triggered it?"  
  
The young woman frowned when she tried to remember about the dream she had and what Gramma Tala had told her about Ro'e - plus what the eel had said in the end.  _Who do I think gave him another chance?_  "I think  _she_  is responsible for his return." , she said carefully not to have any mean undertone. She knew he didn't like talking about it. "Gramma Tala told me the fog is feeding on minds ... or spirits? .. I'm not sure .. and able to revive memories inside it ... making them _fragile._ "  
  
The more she spoke, the less he could retain the control over his facial expression. Clever Moana. She had figured out by herself what the fog does, with a little nudge by her granny of course. To him it wasn't anything new. He rembered the time as clear as day when  _she_  had offered him another option to free him from loss. At first he had opposed her strongly, but now. ... He never would've believed she'd actually gain enough power to put this plan in action. His stories were the source of his power. When he forgot what was part of it, it'd fade away and  _he_  would wither, growing old and eventually die. _‘You embody freedom itself!_ ’, Iidas words echoed in his mind and Maui wondered what he might believe  _true_  freedom meant to him. To release himself from any chains that tied him up. His fear of letting go? The Demigod looked at her with a far away gaze and wasn't able to imagine a life without her at his side anymore. If he'd let her help, he'd have to live with her gone! And if he refused, he'd forget who he was! He'd forget her and the world would crumble. Maui was at a loss. The Demigod felt a reassuring pat on his back, figured it to be Tiny and huffed.  
  
Would she even understand why he wished he could just let this one pass by? Let Ro'e win? Maui knew he loved Moana that much, but not telling her anything she needed to know how to fix the carpet on his skin, would bring her world back to its raw state and ruin her life. He had to accept that. He had to break her heart in the end and hurtful enough for her to hate him so she could live her life. There was no way around it.  _I'm sorry ..._    
  
_Wait!_  , said Tiny by hitting him with Mini-Mo's oar. Maui glared down and saw his tattoo tell a wild story of how actually telling her the truth could prevent everything from happening. If he'd just be courageous enough.  
  
Moana had watched his eyes fading into uncertain distances and was somehow puzzled he hadn't said anything. Like it was nothing new to him. He knew. How?  
" _Maui!_ " she called him hushly and stared at him with disbelieving eyes. The Demigod shot at her like she had woken him out of a nightmare in bright daylight.  
"Did you already know about this?!"  
"Mh? Uh, No. No I didn't! .. I eerm.", Tiny frowned at him, slowly tilting his head. "Just thought about other options."   
"Oh, yeah?", Moana narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Like what?"  
  
_Hana Lepo!_  
  
Maui had to think of something fast, but every way he tried to run was blocked by her intense eyes. He was desperately trying to grasp a suitable lie! He got nothing. He was frozen. Tiny panickly ran in circles jumped for cover. " _Hey, come back you little- don't you leave me in this?!_ " he slapped his palm on his chest and shook Mini-Maui to submission. "Maui! What's wrong with you?", confused the young chief reached for his hand and she could see a huge turmoil rising up inside him. Like her touch would burn him. In fact it gave birth to a volcano, to urge and kick him telling her everything from top to bottom and time stood. He couldn't do it!  
"Nothing!", he barked at her unintentionally and cleared his throat, to repeat his lie more controlled. "I got nothing. No ideas ..."  
"This isn't like you.", she spoke determining.   
  
In fact, it wasn't. He had been awefully quiet lately, Moana had noted, and her first best guess was it could be because of Ro'e. Did all of this push him so much to his limits? Or did he feel such a heavy guilt for everything? Or was there something important he didn't want to tell her? When her hand found its way up his arm, her eyes fell on Tiny. Mini-Maui made eye contact with her and slowly turned to look up sadly. Moana followed his example and saw the same kind of call inside his eyes. She listened closely, let herself go, until she tripped. She didn't know better, than to wrap her arms around his strong shoulders, pulling herself close. She felt him shiver under her touch. A chuckling huff on her back sent a chill drown her spine, when he lifted her over the palm tree to fully embrace her. Against any reason left screaming within him, he enjoyed her closeness and tried to treasure every bit of this moment.   
  
The sharp scent of his soft hair in her nose, she could not think of anything, than saying. "Don't worry. ... We'll find a way." She wasn't sure why she said those words and what she was talking about, but it felt right.  _Everything_  about this felt right. She had fallen in love with a Demigod so he was now part of her story. Moana drew a painful line and parted with him again. Far too short moments. Only her hand resided on his chest. " .. and whatever might bother you ... I'm  _here_."  Slowly her gaze sunk down to her hand where she spotted Tiny and Momo in a tight embrace. Moana forgot to breath. "  _Maui?_ " Looked up like searching for answers and found them in a dreamy smile of his.  
   
"Mhm?", Maui mumbled askingly.The shape-shifter knew Moana had seen Tiny's hints and only shrugged at her, as if he had no idea why Tiny did this. He kind of hoped she'd guess his tattoo having an own head. Though he kept forgetting the chieftess' mind was all the same. When she wrapped her fingers around the cord hanging around his neck, she lifted herself up, pulling him closer, to nestle her face against his. Startled he just closed his eyes shut, doing nothing to stop her. Allowing her whatever she wanted to do with him, as his fires burned around Tiny's feet. She was so very close, her beautiful and tempting lips only inches away. He felt her gentle huff on his face and all he could see was white sparks. He leaned in for a second, huffing her name, then flung his head back in a wide circle inhaling deeply and backed away with peaceable raised hands to keep her at distance. The Demigod curled his lips, sadly shaking his head at her, forcing an apologizing smile. "I should go."  
  
All this time she had thought she had seen a certain kind of affection. Moana was certain there was _something!_  She had seen it in his eyes! How he used to look at her lately and how he had responded to her approach. What was holding him back? Was it her? ...  _No!_  , stubborness shouted.  _It's not you! it's him!_ Moana inhaled as she understood what it was. So she wouldn't let him just disappear. The call inside her had been pointing out in a different direction than she had expected. Towards  _him_. The ocean had brought them together! Moana answered the call, as if she tried to reach for a breeze. She feared, she'd regret it for the rest of her life, if she wouldn't listen. Moana chose to leap after him, but her heart made her gasp his name again. "Maui,  _Wait._ "  
  
Moana had a hard time keeping a steady tone, he stopped in his tracks.  
She could only see his hanging shouldes and heavily shifting torso as he sighed and just stood there, ready to listen.  
  
" ... You don't have to stay. But, please, hear me out first ..."  
The Demigod lowered his head in surrender and she thought her legs would give in to her own weight.  
" ... I .. wanted to thank you. .. ", she closed in a few shy steps, fumbling with her hair. " _Seriously!_  ... for what you did. ... Even though you don't want to be here. ... "  
  
She watched him, if he wanted to make a response, but he remained silent like his tattoos. Moana wouldn't let go yet.  
" ... I know it must be hard for you ... being pushed here by me?" It was the guilt in her tone, that pulled up his head. Listening to her soft spoken words, he fought the urge to look at her and object. He wanted to tell her how precious she was to him and that he chose to stay here because of her. He was here by himself, what Moana apparently didn't know. " ... or forced to feel accepted by people you don't know and who fear you. ...", there was a small shudder in her tone, that made his heart cramp. Moana felt her eyes watering, as she kept on blabbering. She didn't care if he even wanted to listen to her whining. She felt pathetic. How could this happen? She lost her heart to a 1000-year-old Demigod who seemingly sees himself above any human notion or emotion and she stood here and pleaded for his favor.  
  
" .. It's ... All I'm trying to do is to give you something  _back._ " Moana wiped over her eyes with her curls and straightened her back to gain more confidence for her voice. With a deep breath: "Caring about where you  _are_  or ... Giving you a place you can always return to. " Moana’s tone took an urgent spark and touched his heart, stung it with needles.  
" ... Even if it's just for a short moment. ... It's the only thing I can do for you, as a mortal."  
  
As both listened to her words - she felt like stepping on new land and held on thight to her necklace, he finally turned his head and fixed his eyes on hers. Her words had torn his heart apart like hungry piranhas a piece of meat. He received every agonizing strand of guilt hurling down on him, when he shoved the truth back in its cage, behind a carefree blink of his eyes. "You coming or what?", he grumbled smiling, raising his eyebrow and pointing toward the camp’s direction.  
  
The chieftess' jaw dropped open on the spot. After every carefully chosen word she just had hurled at him, she didn't understand how he could ignore it, like it was nothing.   
Moana huffed and hung her head like a withering flower, her curls framing her painful features. The Demigod didn't seem to care at all. She was such an  _idiot_  to even think a being like him could understand a human notion. She always had believed him to be human too, now she wasn't so sure anymore. Moana’s hands formed fists so she wouldn't touch him again, while closing in.   
  
The Demigod cursed the sensation inside him, when he forced his body with all his might to remain calm. Not consoling her face with gentle hands, or feeling her close again. She wanted to be with him, he saw that. She just told him how she truly felt. She  _loved_  him.  _Him._  And though he longed to tell her that he knew, that he felt the same, he just paced his inner bars. He wished he could change the world around them, just to function on it's own, so they can live and die together. But he was only ...  _Demi_.   
  
"How was she?", Moana’s voice was a hushed tone, piercing the silence between them with holes. " .. Before everything, I mean."  
Maui twisted his lips, sneering at her from the corner of his eyes and believing her to be jealous, his big ego showed once again. She already knew Ro'e had been his  _faithful_  wife. Sure he could tell her, there was no harm in that. " _Beautiful_  and _coconuts._ ", Maui scoffed derogative and shrugged, shoving leaves out of his sight - they snapped back at his skull once he let go. Moana supressed a chuckle. "What? That's it?"  
" _Eeh_ ,", he twisted his wrist.  
  
Together they wandered back, while The Demihod finally told her about this girl who had become his wife. With strong hands he started to clear the path for her, as if lifting curtains for his chieftess. " ... She was quiet ...", he sighed. " ... nice to look at, but boring."  
" _Maui!_ ", Moana shook her head at him disapproving of how he spoke about her.  
"No! I'm not shitting you here!", he stated, raising his big palms. " Charisma like a grey rock. No edges, no facettes .. no certain talents or interests ..."  
The shape-shifter paused for a moment to help her over a ditch and let her to her feet again, without even looking at her. Whenever he toutched her, she tried to keep that feeling alive in her mind. It burned.   
  
" .. and how she always used to look at me. ... With those _sad_  eyes ... never smiled at me  _once._ ", Maui did seem empathic toward Ro'e's past, like it did bother him. " .. Sure, it was because .. she was kind of forced into it ... But I never pushed her to do anything!", Maui looked at his chieftess as if he wanted her to believe him.   
"Most of the time she refused to even _interact_  with me. ... Like I was some kind of _monster._ "   
  
"Why did you say  _yes_  to it in the first place?", Moana wondered and frowned in suspicion.   
Maui wasn't prepared for thist question and chewed on his lower lip.  
"I didn't love her, but - ", he growled, secretly scolding himself for having told her that. " .. When she was presented to me by her people, it didn't feel like a tearful goodbye, you know?"   
  
"What do you mean?"   
"They weren't sad she had to go, like they wanted to get  _rid_  of her.", he described and shoved a boulder out of their way, so he wouldn't have to lift her up again.  
"I only had to take  _one look_  in her face and I knew. ... They  _tossed_  her."  Maui let out a deep sigh and hung his arms. " .. _Soo_  ... I said yes."  
"You took her in." , Moana discerned and looked at him with her moved eyes.    
"Out of the _good_  of my  _flawless heart!_ ", he placed a palm on his chest and grinned broadly. But his voice was somewhat sarcastical and his arm slumbed down again. "I was a  _different guy_  back then." ‘ _Until I met you._ ’, he had wanted to add. " _.. aaanyway. .._. She never talked to me. At first I though she was just being  _very_  shy."  
" ..  _But?_ "  his chieftess requested, ducking under his hand, that held up a branch for her.   
Maui swallowed, not certain whether to tell her his particular information.  
".. Her  _people_  ... Had cut out her tongue, so she wouldn't object." he snarled in a low tone and she froze in shock.   
" _What?_ ", she gasped bewildered and let sink in what he just told her. " .. That's  _horrible._ "   
 "When I found, I was _beyond reason._  " The Demigod nodded strongly. "I wanted to beat their damn heads in and grow daisies out of their skulls."   
Moana didn't throw any more questions at him. She had heard enough, but for some reason Maui kept comfortably talking, like he wanted her to listen, so Moana didn't stop him. "But as the  _great Maui_ , I let out my anger not at them.. but at the mountains. ... "  
  
Moana flinched, as he hurled his hook in the bushes, to tear a large gap into the canopy. Far up, there stood an impressive, sharp formation of raw stone, striped by the layers of ages. An impressivly great wound had been lunged in it a long time ago. Maui kept looking at it with a bittersweet tone in his voice. " ... I left to Te Fiti, got my ass kicked by Te Kā, met a nice  _boy_  on the way. You know the story.", he grinned at his witty comment and felt her ellbow in his ribs. " _Hrhr._ "   
  
Slowly the smile in his face lied down, as he ended the story with a few more breaths. "When I came  _back_  ... I ", he shrug like back then, when he had told her about his childhood. " .. learned that the falling rocks had .. crushed the entrance of her home ...  _trapping her inside._ ", his last words were just whispers, like he tried to hiss over his guilty tone. Now it was time for Moana to throw away all her boundaries and she placed a gentle, caring hand on his sad features.  
  
"Maui. .. ", she whispered sensitive caressing him with her warm, brown eyes. " .. It wasn't your fault."  
  
He looked at her, nestling his cheek just for a small second in her palm, what probably was the last drop to let her emotions overflow, like a stream she could not control. If he really didn't care about them, then why did he still care for what he did to a woman 1000 years ago? The next thing she felt inside was ocean being hit and hurled around by a strong whirlwind and lifted her up to his face. Touching his lips burned, boiled and swirled around, until she could swear hearing his heart beating in a fast space, just like hers.  
Like one and he felt it too. To him it was similar to two hands full of water, which would form a bigger puddle together, as if it had always been this way. He could not resist her anymore. Moaning, all his defense, the shell of a god, shattered like obsidian as he even let go of his Fish-Hook, to lean in heartfelt and fully wrap his arms around her.   
  
They parted hesitant with a small sound of their lips, locking their asking eyes. What just happened? She was still held by him, carefully placed in his strong arms and her hands resided in his silky curls. Against all warnings by her doubt and rationality her love for him might destroy her, she wanted to live it to the fullest. It was a pure and white force like a star, guiding her and was stronger than any fear. Her face now was entirely red and embarrassed she huffed a little laugh, lowering her eyes.   
  
Maui watched every little change in her expression, like he didn't want to miss anything happening inside her. He had tried to fight it, but failed. No force had been powerful enough to beat him, to make him change, to give him a different kind of view on the people, but her. Maui had used to try being like the gods who had raised him. Instead She and her love made him feel like ... Human. Just like she did, he blew a soundless laugh and shook his head. He still couldn't believe it. No mask was shoved over his features, no trying to hide from her anymore. He loved her and she knew. This insight took a huge burden off his back, he felt like flying. Tiny and Momo stood together on the canoe, holding each other tight and faced their future together with happiness and excitement.  
  
They didn't dare to speak, or they feared it might scare away what they just exchanged. Moana noticed a small thing, that made her feel even more important to him. Whenever she touched him, his ears would turn bright red first. This loving, caring hulk with his stupid charismatic grin, his charming tooth gap had finally caught her heart. She wrapped her arms around him again and breathed in deeply. " ..  _'a dun' wanna go back yet._  ...", she almost whispered in his ear, huffing in his neck. Maui shuddered, while a chill like ember ran down his spine and buried his nose deep in her curls.  
  
Like every happy moment, this one lasted only some hours, until both of them decided to go back, before anyone would stumble upon them. Moana didn't like keeping her love for him a secret in public and felt her father’s gaze on her like a hunter, when she stepped at Maui's side into their settlement. She tried to act like she didn't see him and was mindful of how she was interacting with the shape-shifter. The Motunuians had been very busy with bulding real huts instead of these fragile shelters from the beginning. Now it almost looked like a small village, that needed a name very fast. "Looking good.", Maui stated impressed, gazing up to a post, supporting a huge roof. He had helped with this one a lot, like Iida had infected him with her nasty diligence.  
"This is going to be the main building.", she told him and ran her fingers over the freshly carved wood towards him. "Gatherings, councils ... Plans for the future."  
"Planning parties ... ", Maui completed her list.  
" _urrg_  .. Yes, that too.", Moana shook her head and suddenly gasped and looked at him with excited eyes. " _Hhhh_  I almost forgot!"   
"What?", the Demigod faltered.    
She only patted his arm and backed away with a broad smile.  
" _Stay!_  I'll be back! Just a Minute!", and there she went.  
"Okay?"  
  
He liked looking after her, she had a nice backss-  _story._ He was too busy  _reading_ to notice the creaking sound the pole made, once he leaned at it and flattering wings next to him announced Hei Hei wanted to greet him - he guessed.  _Boggbogg?_  
"Hey, drum-stick! How'ya doin' ?", Maui chuckled and happy to see a friendly face. That stupid chicken had survived the storm, Te Kā, The Ocean and now it would survive the falling end of the roof crashing around them. A very loud noise of clashing layers was heard and many faces turned to him. All, in fact.   
  
Maui had shifted the post a few seconds ago and it was now the only thing left standing.  
Awkward googly eyes rolled about, to where he stood, to the people, to drumstick - back to the people. "Uhm." Maui stiffened and pointed at the chicken. " _Tadaaa!_ " The post fell on a fluffy roof. Tiny face-palmed, just like mini Mo. To Sina the whole thing had been too painful to look at and was that a twitch in Tui's frown? Only little Kaiko thought it funny.   
  
"Tough crowd." ... 

  


 

 


	15. Mamaye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "mamaye" means 'bound' 
> 
>  
> 
> :::::::::::::::::::VENTURE CAREFULLY:::::::::::::::::::
> 
> \- mentioned body concact
> 
>  
> 
> .................. ALSO ...................
> 
> The song Sina is singing here is by Disney, called. Lava.  
> You can find it on youtube. 8D It's a cute song ^^.

Moana saw the little accident from the edge of the village, where she and her mother had sat for a few days. A chuckle resided in her throat, when she shook her head and turned to the tapa she had worked on. It wasn't finished yet. The only thing missing was a little bit of pattern perfectly fitting for a Demigod. At first the young chief had not planned to make this one for Maui, but now it felt like the right thing to do. She had told him, she wanted to take him in and this little, harmless gesture would only seal it. Moana touched the tapa to test if it was still moist. The fog had made it difficult to dry it enough for further treatment and it would be such a waste if she had to start again. It was dry and she smiled. Moana could already see the stupid face Maui would make, once she would give him this gift. The young chief started to hum little tunes, while she wrapped it up. It was the song Maui had sung about himself. She loved thinking back to the day when she and the Demigod first met and how overly proud he had bragged about the world he had changed. In songform. ‘ _He must've been awefully bored.’_ , Moana thought and kept on singing.   
  
"You seem cheerful today.", Tui closed in and crossed her eyes only shortly, before lending her a hand.  
"Just thought ... Being happy would be nice for a change.", she smiled at him.  
  
Together they tended to the tapa, folding it and hanging it in the sun. At some point the fog hadn't shown itself near their bay anymore that Moana thought it odd. She had been warned by Tala the fog would be controlled by Ro'e and the young chief didn't believe one second she had given up. Maybe Ro'e's power was depending on the time of day, for she had shown any activity only at night. The young chief’s eyes wandered off to Maui, who lifted the fallen roof with one hand and placed the post under it with the other - his face got hit by Hei Hei trying to fly. Moana chuckled. Looking at her former friend, she asked herself, what he was to her now. A lover? A secret she'd have to keep for the rest of her life?   
  
Tui followed her eyes and supressed a sigh. He had had many conversations with his wife about the relationship his daughter and the shape-shifer fostered. He wasn't blind to what happened between them and he could tell to what pain it might lead. It turned his face sour thinking about it. His daughter was still so young, bold and didn't seem to see the dangers in getting involved with the Demigod. Tui wasn't afraid he might hurt her, he was sure of it. Gods used to play their games with mankind many times before and often it was the humans who had to suffer. How could he just stand there and watch his dear child go down? Can he be blamed for speaking to the elders about her future? It was custom for the new chief to choose a mate once a new villiage was settled. Surely Moana knew, she had been raised to know and to prepare for not only that day. When it should happen was still in her hands, but she had to choose at some point. Tui didn't see the Demigod would ever settle down, while he could fly around the world instead. He could not imagine anything that might change a god’s nature.   
  
"Is it your brother?", he asked, his quiet eyes set on her features.   
  
It was the tone in his voice that rang alarming signals inside her and she kept her smile up. She had spent enough time practicing to fake it long enough until she could turn her back to him. "Is there another reason?", she countered, acting like she didn't know what he was talking about. Moana believed to know where it was going and hearing the silence coming from her father, as well as feeling his eyes in her back confirmed it. He could have no knowledge of how  _close_  she and the shape-shifter had been and telling him wouldn't help her. Moana was aware that her father was just trying to protect her, but his way of solving things had already been proved not to be hers.  
  
"You were away from Kaiko for quite some hours.", he said, crossing his arms. " ... Where have you been?"   
  
The young chief had no answer that wouldn't make her less suspicious and it bugged her. What had happened in that glade a few hours ago had felt like coming home, and she could not cope with it now kicking her in the stomach. Moana froze, still trying to tend idly to the tapa. She hated having secrets. It felt like being trapped under water. A flash of rage crossed her eyes, when she turned to him. "Out. Having some  _me-time_?", she bluffed and wrapped up the carpet, trying to leave.  
  
"Is this a new way of saying, you were with the shape-shifter?", Tui confronted her and gently spun her around to face him. The way she raised her chin at him was truculent. He saw tiny hints of change in her features, like she had done a big step in her life. "Did he touch you?", he wanted to know and took her by the arms. Fury rose and boiled inside and she feared her flushed cheeks would turn her future tears red. " _No!_ " Big angry eyes stared at him, as she freed herself from his grip.  
"And stop calling him  _the shape-shifter!_  "  
  
"Moana, don't try to fool me!", Tui warned her growling. "I just saw how you looked at him and I'll not tolerate you lying to me, so you better tell me now what happened between you!"   
"And I'll not tolerate you invading my privacy!", Moana hissed, trying to stay quiet so nobody else would be aware what they were fighting about. "But if it eases your curiousity:  _Maui_  and  _I_  are  _close_.", Moana paused a while until the words reached his thick skull. "And you can't change anything about that! So says the  _chief!_ "  
  
Moana turned away, ready to leave him on the spot. She had wanted to have the last word, but he wouldn't have been her father if he'd let this one slide.  
"And as  _chief_  you have to see this is wrong!", Tui almost shouted now, scaring a flog of chicken away and gaining the attention of nearby people. ‘ _Here we go again!’_ , they thought and awkwardly trailed off to far away corners. Moana stood still, trying to handle the ball of lava in her. Flying curls and bright, hot cheeks, she glared at him. She still heard the call, the deep connection she felt towards Maui, when they had been alone. How dared he have a judgement over something he could not compare to?   
"Wrong?!", she snarled now fully showing thorns. "You ignore him most of the time! You treat him with hostility, you're not talking to him or even look at him with your backside!" The sun’s rage, that it had felt when Maui had lassoed it, was nothing compared to Moana’s outburst. Still she only flickered her flames at him.  
  
"You don't know anything about  _him_  or what he went through! What  _we_  have lived through! So how can you say what we have is wrong?!", the young chief glared at him with piercing spheres and let go of the tapa, so she wouldn't crumble it with her fingers.  
  
\--------------------------

"You better keep practicing until your chicken-lives are all spent, Drum-Stick!", Maui complained, talking to the googling rooster. He didn't mind to adorn his hair once in a while, but not with those scrawny feathers. He eyed the fluff he just pulled out of his locks, it was green. He put it back. Tiny cupped his chin and nodded slightly aggreeing,  _not bad_. A white shadow closing in made him turn. Sina greeted him with a smile, her newborn son gently carried in her arms and blowing bubbles. _Just. ... Ew._  
  
" _Mrs. Curly!_ Ya' feet wayfinders too?", he asked jokingly and kept combing his raven locks. A white feather.  _Away with it!_ He watched it hover to the ground,  _wee_.   
"Having fun, I see?", the mother took note and positioned her boy higher on her arm. Kaiko snorted. The Demigod eyed it with a hint she could not place. ‘ _Strange.’_ , Sina thought. "What do you and Moana want to do about your spell? Any plans of departure we have to prepare for?"  
  
_Brown._  
Maui looked down at her, the feather still between his fingers.  
"No sweat, Mrs. Curly!", he told her, gesticulating with the brown fluff. "There's enough time for some family-bonding here."   
The feather was pulled away. Confused he looked at his fingers. The child got it. Maui blinked at the baby shortly, then turned back to his fan.  
"Tonight we'll spank the eel, then celebrate my two to zero.", Maui threw his hair back and flexed his right arm, where Tiny showed Sina how it'd look like. "After that I'll patch up my carpet and beat the whites." Tiny nodded, wildly swinging his hook in victory. Sina tilded her head at him. "But how?"   
Maui fished another feather out of his hair,  _there was no end to them._  "That's something I can only speculate." _  
_ "What ... Do you have to do until a new tattoo appears?", Sina asked suddenly and caught his full attention now.   
"Oh, nothing special.", he bragged like basking in sunlight leaning on his hook. "Only some life changing deeds for the good of the people." the fluff was taken again. Both eyed the boy, silence, then each other. Maui didn't know, but Sina had seen how the two tiny figures -resembling him and Moana- were quite keen to one another. Once Tiny crossed her eyes, he jumped away from Momo, scrambling and looking busted to the ground. Only Sina’s eyes, which rolled to his chest and back to his face, told of her knowing. She filled her lungs quietly. "What about the tiny Moana close to you?"  
  
The Demigod fell from his high boat, like she just had high-fived him - with another boat. He bent down to her, not too close of course. "Pretty nosy, aren't we?" Maui confronted her with a raised brow, while small baby hands aimed for his locks. He pulled back in time." _No!_  Bad Baby!", and pointed his finger at it.   
"Just saying.", she apologized and pulled another feather out. It was red. Sina gave her son the fluff instead and both turned their head to the end of the village, where Moana’s and Tui's confrontation grew louder. They could only understand a few words, but it was enough to raise their suspicion of what it was about.   
  
" _He is a Demigod! Moana!_ ", Tui barked, shooting darts at her. "What do you think will happen?! Him staying with you?! Leading a tiny village?!"  
Being confronted with the harsh reality hit her hard and watered her eyes. How dared he be right with this? There was more that he wanted to throw at her, but Tui didn't dare to speak it out loud, or it might come true someday. Only thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable. Moana was hit hard by his words as he spoke about what she feared. Would Maui actually stay with her until the end, once he got his hawk back? Or would he just listen to his instincts and itchy wings, leaving her behind? She frowned and looked away from the blazing features of her father. She spotted her mother talking to Maui, as he fumbled feathers out of his hair.

Moana pressed her lips shut and chewed on them, ripping her eyes from her father’s wild expressions and to her feet. "It was just a  _kiss!_ ", she hissed trembling as she lied to him and buried her right pinkie finger deep in her fist. Too small to be noticed right away, a gentle black line bellished around her finger like a curly breeze. A promise he had made to her down in the glade.  _Hours ago ..._    
  
_This huge man, rough and raw in battle, was gentle, holding her close and tender, like she was a fragile trinket. While she just lied there with her face nestled on his broad chest, listening to the beating of his heart, she felt pure peace and couldn't stop smiling. In the end all their pain had paid out and they couldn't say where it went. Healing and filling the holes of their past, this feeling of entirety hovered around them, shielding them from the cold of the fog. Maui found his fingers in her curls once again, stroking a strain out of her face. Moana gazed up to him with a wisp of blush on her cheeks. Tiny lied on his belly, adoring Momo with heart-shaped bubbles around his head._  
  
" _What now, butter-cup?", Maui sighed smiling._  
_Snuggling her cheek in his strong palm, hotness danced down her spine, when she felt his kiss in her scalp. The gold in her heart grew a tard heavier, as she understood the true meaning of his question. He had rarely felt anyhting close to what he felt now around her. He had heard of Gods giving up their true form to be with a mortal, but he had never understood why. How could they've given up themselves, just to be bound to earthly standards? Looking down at the young woman in his lap he felt a bit of remorse. The answer had been so easy, too easy for him to see. Maui gifted her with a flirting grin. Oh, all of this would end so badly for them. Moana responded it, playing with one of his locks between her fingertips, and sighed deeply._

  
  
_"I don't know.", she spoke quietly, trying not to scare any happyness away. There had been no other way to be as close as they could, so only bare skin had touched skin, while they had held each other in a tight embrace. It had been almost too close, because the question 'How far will you go?' had teased them a while. Until it had been Him who had pulled back in time. Moana lifted her head to face him, cupping his copper jaw and trailing along it's line. Warm brown eyes pulled her deep, but her smile steady faded into a sad expression. Moana let her hand sink, stroking down his neck to his torso. She could feel the fine borders of his tattoos and the chills that shuddered him under her touch. Maui caught her hand with sorrowfull eyes. " Hey.", the Demigod whispered and put a soft finger under her jaw. "Chin up, chief."  
  
"I don't know how.", Moana breathed gloomy and rose, putting the shoulder-strap of her chestpiece back to it's former place. He followed, pulling a curl out, caught by it. "How can I return to my people, leading them, when I have to keep us a secret? I can't just _ forget!"  
_  
"Moana.", Maui hushed at her, holding her face in both hands. "Don't cut yourself too short, will 'ya? You're amazing! I've seen you facing down a lava-demon, only armed with a humming beacon of death." The young woman drew a new smile on her lips she couldn't fight and felt a tear being wiped away by his thumb. "You can do this. You'll build a new place for your people and have a happy life, like a boss!", he chuckled and gestured with his hand, like hanging images in the air. "You'll say 'I am Moana the brave, chief and master wayfinder of Motunui, the ocean’s chosen, deliverer of the mighty Demigod Maui, bearer of Te Fiti’s heart and this is My island! My story!' The end."  
  
Moana laughed quietly and once again she fell into his brawny arms, as if he could scare fear itself away. Her eyes trailed along his shoulder to the empty spaces the fog had ripped from him. " ... What if _ you _forget?"  
_  
_Maui chuckled which surprised her a bit. "I'll be carefull with this one.", he promised, stroking her curls behind her ear. The Demigod's mind made a suggestion and with that, he felt out for his hook.  Maui looked at her, directly into her eyes, when he fumbled a thin lock from the back of his head. "But, to make you feel better about it ... ", and cut it off. Tiny was rampaging at this point, like he didn't like the idea. "Aw, shush!", Maui shrugged his shoulder, throwing Tiny on his back. Moana tilted her head, not sure what to make of it. "Maui, what- Your hair?!"  
  
Once the bone sewed through, Moana could've sworn to hear a little sound, like twinkling stars. His hair was part of his power. Part of his story! The young chief couldn't breathe and didn't think he'd do something like this for her. Disbelieving eyes watched him, as he tied his lock around her smallest finger and put it in both of his palms. "Now.. ", he started talking softly. "This is not going to hurt a second.", he paused. "Until I do this." And a flash burned in her eyes, as something crackling pierced through her skin, that she felt like something would use her soul as an instrument. The Second was gone as fast as she could flinch and hiss. Wide eyes stared down at her pinkie, where Maui's lock was nothing more than a shadow now. A small tattoo burned in her skin. The young chief tore her gaze up to him again, speechless and thrown around by emotions. " ... Even if I turn into a slobbering idiot in the end ...", he explained, holding her hands the entire time. "  .. With this .. I'll always know how to find you."_  
_Tearful Moana buried her face in his arms and he stroke her head. She didn't want to cry before him. "I promise."  
_  
"Moana!", Tui's strong tone brought her back out of the distance. "I don't want to tell you who to be with. But it is urgent that you forget him!"  
" _I know!_ ", new strength clinged to her voice, but she was still hurt and the pain in her eyes seemed to make him finally listen. "I know what mess I'm in! It's not just an idea that happened yesterday, father! ... It just  _grew_  and I can't change anything about it!"   
  
Chief Tui inhaled deeply and let some air freshen his brain, running both his hands over his face. He had feared she'd have a crush on the Demigod, but it turned out to be much deeper and harder than he had hoped. To him it was a nightmare his daughter got caught in. "You love him?", he dared to ask, not looking at his daughter at first. Moana didn't answer, she didn't nod. She didn't want to think about how much she wanted to be back in that glade. " ... Moana, it's better you end it, before it's too painful. .."   
  
Moana glared hot lava at him again, forcing her tears back behind her distraught gaze.  
" ..  _We_  already have.", she breathed bitter and turned a last time to him. " ... and it is.", there she went, leaving her father and the tapa behind, she had wanted to tend to. Now she felt like it could cut her hands. Secretly, she fumbled around the tiny mark left by the Demigod, while she threw a short look towards the sinking sun. Only a few hours left to prepare the eel-hunt. Chief Moana was eager to bottle up all her frustration and aching heart, to hurl it down on this beast once it would show up. Moana hoped. ... No, she knew, Ro'e would hear her roar loud and clear. 

\----------------------------------

With the night the foggy banks returned and covered the shore, where their canoes still laid in their sandy beds. Maui stood alone on the beach, his hook placed in his hands and a chilly feeling wouldn't let go of his right arm. He circled it, cracking a tension in his neck and traced his watchful eyes to the northern hills, where the other hunters hid -consisting of hunter A, B, C and D - those were new folks,  _scout_  A B and C needed some rest- Iida, Tui and Moana. The plan was the following: They lured it out in relay to him, where he'll wait and smack his head with one blow of his fish-hook. Then he'd harness the breeze again, _yadda yadda. And so on._  The Demi-God couldn't concentrate. Guilt bit his pinkie for having fled the scene with Sina, once Tui had fought with Moana because of him. His damn lovesickness made him broody that he wrinkled his nasal bridge. Maybe it had been too rash of him to gift Moana with a spell. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to put a humming beacon on her spirit for him to find her in all eternity. Sure he could take the spell away from her at some point, but he felt like this would be wrong too.  _Arg._  The Demigod massaged his temples and looked to the glowing sensation in the distance - like a small star - which should be her. His friend and chieftess, now lover in secret. When he thought about Moana having to wed another man, his heart grew sour and cramped. He didn't want to watch this. He wanted to remember her smiling and happy, held by him close. He watched Tiny and Momo holding hands behind their backs, probably so he wouldn't get hurt by what he saw. "  _... Go on!_ ", he droned annoyed at his chest and rolled his eyes away. " .. Who am I to judge."

...  
  
Sina couldn't sleep, with her husband and daughter out, facing danger. The whole afternoon she had spoken to the Demigod and keeping him distracted from something she could only assume. He hadn't spoken about her, not a bit, and she knew her daughter was the only thing on his mind. The mother wished so dearly and had prayed many times to the gods, to make a path for both of them. It wasn't right what they had to deal with, Sina could speak from experience. She was sad she couldn't do more for them than talk consoling to both of them. Little Kaiko started to whimper out of a sudden and it looked like he didn't like the fog either. " _Sh sh sh._ ", his mother hushed and rocked him gently. "All will be good. You'll see.", Sina whispered, but the baby thought otherwise and started whining, crying like a monster just jumped out of the shadows. " _Sshh._  Now now! .. I'm here!" She had no choice, but to raise from her roostingplace and carry her wailing son away, not to wake more of her people. Holding the baby in her hands above her face, she tried to ease his crying by giving him a new point of view, but Kaiko kept on howling. It used to work on Moana perfectly. "Ow, C'mon, Kaiko.", Sina sighed. Maybe talking to him would help? "Now is not the time for crying?"  
  
...

Pathetic baby noises echoed from out forest and reached the shape-shifter’s ears. He slightly turned to look if he could see anyone. But there was only mist around him and no other sound, except for the rushing waves to his feet. Tiny yawned unimpressed. " _Yeah!_  I know right?", he giggled. "What a cliché!" The wailing stopped suddenly. Silence followed and sent goosebumps down his arms. ".. Now that's scary." The fog rose, strechting its greedy tendrils around the bay, licking over the harsh rocks and carried now strangely a gentle voice over the hills. A song that took the coolness out of the air and eased sore ears. Maui wasn't sure, but he guessed it would be Sina and Kaiko in the shadows. Maui stood in silence and listened.  
  
_"A long long time ago_  
_there was a volcano_  
_living all alone_  
_in the middle of the sea ... "_

 

_\------------_

Tui had not allowed Moana to go into the grotto again and was eager to lure out this monster first. He was a strong, muscular man and wasn't built for a long distance run, but he had good reflexes and could sprint very fast for cover. He knew what was at stake here. His daughter, his son, his wife. His people. They counted on him and he trusted they'd go on, when he would fall. Of course he had no intention of doing so. Moana had led him here before sundown, where he had waited in the shadows. The huge gap in the earth only confirmed the story Iida and Moana had told him. Although his daughter had described him what he was about to face, he couldn't imagine the smell would be so sickening. Here, down at the shore, where the ocean had in a friendly manner washed a path to the entrance, the fog was thick, like standing in a rotting campfire. " _ **YOU! No. WHERE IS SHE!?**_ " A huge shadow moved and he jumped running, while the fog sang a gentle tune. Or was it catching up on it? 

  
_"He sat high above his bay_  
_watching all the lovers play_  
_and wishing that_  
_he had someone too ... "_  
  
...  
  
Hidden between black rocks and shady sand sat Iida, waiting to blow her horn-shell, to lure the beast further. She could already hear the screams and noises the beast would make. she had seen how fast it was and was sure she could outrun it for some miles. It should be enough to reach Aheahe, the next hunter further south. Iida shook. She was scared. She had faced this monster before but she was not eager to look in it's hideous visage again. Yet she wouldn't let this bring her down. Fear was something to be conquered. As the fog around her grew thicker, she knew it was about time. Then the ground shook, almost smacked her off her feet. A screeching sound tore the silence apart, as she saw Tui leaping for cover and heavily lifting his chest. That's when Iida blew her horn. " _I'm HERE!_ " She didn't really see the beast, only it's lurky shadow surrounded by white smoke, black trees and leaves and what appeared to be lighting? Iida didn't have enough time to check. It snapped its jaws at her, she heard its clicking teeth close behind.  _ **"I Know Your Taste!"**_ , the beast thundered behind her.  _ **"COME BACK!"**_ All while the fog would rather add some more words to a song. Tui recognized the song. The voice! It was Sina. But how could that be? Was she out here with them too?   
  
_"And from his lava came_  
_this song of hope that he sang_  
_out loud everyday_  
_for years and years ... "  
  
...  
  
_ Moana could hear the first signal-shells in the distance and nervously held onto her right pinkie finger. She would face down this beast together with him. At his side, so reassured he would not fall victim to the forgetfullness of Ro'e’s curse. Maybe she could help him find a new tattoo like he did in the past? The young chief didn't understand how he could gain a tattoo for something she had accomplished. It had been her who had restored Te Fiti's heart, not  _Maui._  Maybe he was wearing it for her? ‘ _Wishful thinking!’_ , her mind scolded her. Still she could not get rid of the idea, that maybe she could be someday like him. Immortal. Living in all eternity at his side. She scoffed at herself for romancing her story, like she wanted to paint it by herself. As if she could change her very being only by wishing. A humming sensation ran over her feet. The earth beneath them trembled, or was it herself? No, she could feel it in the little stones! Moana looked into the distance, where the cliffs were the harshest. There she could see falling palm trees and Baki, the hunter B, running towards her hill. She hoped he'd not get caught.  _ **"I'LL CHEW you SLOWLY!"**_ , she heard it shouting and saw how Baki faltered under its bare tone. "No!", she hissed and wanted to stand, to blow the shell, but it was too soon! The young chief locked her eyes on the scene, how her distand friend hurled back to his feet and in her direction. Moana breathed deeply, just some more hundred steps! "You can do this!" and when the hunter jumped behind a rock, she stood and placed a bottled up rage on her tongue. " _You Want Me?!_ " , Moana shouted and pointed with her spear at him. The eel turned its mighty head, tentacles swirling in excitement. 

 _ **"You! YOU!"**_    
  
"Then Get a Taste of Me!"  
That's when she cut her palm hissing and letting her blood drop to the ground. The monster trembled, if in excitement or fury, she could not say. Actually she did not care. It worked. It followed. It hunted her. No time. Run! Moana hurled down the hill, hoped her feet wouldn't give in. If so, she was already dead and Maui would take revenge on all eel-like creatures in the entire world. Then he'd probably go to Lalotai, where all dead monsters go, and kill them again.  
  
Step by step, fog, rocks and trees coming from the front, threatening to stop her in haste, while behind her everything was hurled out of the eel’s path. She smelled its skin, its everything and heard its slimy, hideous body being dragged over the ground. She felt sick again by its pure stink.  _ **"WAIT!"**_ , it demanded like it had something important to tell her. Sure, she'd listen to it, once she'd have been at Maui's side - a gentle song suddenly hit her ears, while it was carried by the moist air.   
  
_"I have a dream_  
_I hope will come true_  
_that you're here with me_  
_and I'm here with you ... "_  
  
She knew this voice, and yet she didn't, like it was blurred by echos. She could not place it. Who would be out there singing at night, right now? Moana leaped for a daring jump over the tear appearing right in front of her. She hovered a moment in the air, almost like something would lift her up? The Ocean caught her mid-air, send her flying out of the way of the eel’s snapping fangs.  _ **"NOOo!"**_ , it shrieked, as it fell down the rocks. The fog carried the song further, until it would end.   
  
_"I wish that the earth,_  
_sea, the skies up above_  
_will send me someone_  
_to love ... "  
_  
...  
  
The Demigod didn't know how to feel, but somewhat hit by Sina’s lullaby. He had turned his head once in a while, to see if he could make her out somewhere. But all he could see was whites. Ugh. Watching the mother the whole day, while picking out A,B,C, and D didn't really fit with how he had viewed moms in particular. It wasn't like he never had the chance of meeting his own, but maybe that was the problem. His mother hadn't had cared if he'd live or die. Sina on the other hand ... He wondered how the song would continue, when he saw a huge shade appear on the northern cliffs. Truly! He would recognize this ugly mud among all its ugly relatives - from granny-eel to ... One got the idea.  _Bubbles_  tore at his soles, backing away - what was he-  _it_  doing?! - and whipped a small figure up into the air, right out of the fangs of that aweful maggot. Moana! His heart stopped and a shrieky tone escaped his throat. " _EEK!_ "  The eel had almost swallowed her whole and the grey touch inside him turned pure red. It lifted his spirits and he left deep traces in the sand running towards the flying chieftess. A sludgy sound came from the beach, where the eel fell victim to it's own weight, but Maui had only eyes for the falling woman. He caught her upside-down with one hand and turned her around, before putting her back to her feet. "And she sticks the landing!", he joked. "You okay, Moana?"  
  
Moana slumped down, supporting her on his arm and breathing heavily. She felt like her lung would burst and her legs trembled. Somehow she had been able to hold onto her weapon while being hurled around. The ocean was still with them and now, being able to use more space, the fight could begin. "Yes.", she coughed. "Just need some .. Moments. "  
  
"Alright. Stay here.", he said, turning to the eel. It was moving, shaking his dizzy head, spilling its stinky slime on the ground. "I'll end this, so we can finally have a party!"  
"Maui wait!", she had seen, he had readied his hook to use his magic and now placed a hand on his arm. "Don't just shape-shift! What if it happens again?!"  
" _Hana Lepo!_ ", Maui scowled. "What should I do instead? Dance  _the hula?!_ "  
"Just,  _smite_  him!"  
"You really need to work on your own phrases, curly!"  
  
The eel rose, turned it's mighty snout at them and sniffed with its twisting baleen plates on the sand. It knew they were there. It knew. It tasted them and it filled its chaps with drivel. Its mushy body, more worm like, twined and gathered on the spot, like a snake would do, when it's about to leap at its victim. Thick, milky soup gathered around it, but the ocean washed it back to the brink. Startled it twichted its fins and tail around.  _ **"What Is This?!"**_  
  
" _For not Listening!_ ", Moana taunted loudly, suddenly jumping at Maui's side. "I Warned You! You  _Slimey, Ichy Brat Of A Snail!_ "    
Tiny clapped in his hands, while Maui had another, more loved up hint in his eyes. Moana's cocky behaviour suited her very well.  
... He was such a mess.

 

 


	16. Dandano na ƙarfin hali

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "dandano na ƙarfin hali" means 'taste of courage'
> 
> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::VENTURE CAREFULLY::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
> !! 16+ Content !!  
> This chapter is bloody and brutal!

 

Water pushed the white blanket further onto land and wouldn't let it touch Moana and her immortal friend. The steaming stench escaping from the monster’s nostrils, gills and pores burned in their eyes and blurred their sight. They could hear its sickly lungs as it drew a harsh breath at Moana’s taunt and started jerking its head with clicking teeth. Sharp stone behind it had torn deep cuts in its coat, ripped its scales. Flaps of damping skin were dangling around deep wounds and smeared the harsh cliffs. It was weakened from the hunt, the fall had bruised its body and now they had it where they had wanted it. Cornered.  
  
Her spear and cocky eyes still fixed on the creature, her legs were mushy and shuddered. Four dead eyes didn't see her, but knowing it still knew she was there lowered the courage she had used to cry out her threats. She didn't remember it being that big the last time. The more it stared at her, the more she had the feeling it had been a mistake to lead it here. Four tentacles meanered, twined and thrilled over the shallow torrent, tasting the hint of Moana’s blood dripping down. And there was another taste it knew very well. A shiver ran through its mass, shaking rotten flesh to the ground. It recognized its old foe, but no fear touched its decaying hearts. It had three, they could see them twitching beneath its meaty coat, even faster, once it sucked in the last bit of taste. **"** _ **I**_ **See** _ **...**_ **"** , it scoffed a slimey gurgle. The eel rose, stretched its fins, as the living cadaver started convulsing in a deep, rumbling laughter, droning in their ears. **"** _ **THIS**_ **Is Your Plan!"**  
  
Despite all effort of showing her superiority, Moana stared at it and felt her wall crumble. It was trapped, injured, it literally was falling apart in front of them. Being laughed at was not the reaction she had hoped for. Her words stuck in her throat as she looked at Maui for advice, but he was as dazzled as she. A heartbeat later, a slight breeze, a shadow moved - Maui knocked Moana out of the way, as a festering tentacle came scourging down, splitting the waves.  **"** _ **OH! Brave**_ **Young** _ **Chief**_ **\- Hoping To Protect Her Litter!? ..** _ **DOn't Kill ME!**_ **"** , the beast jibed, while Moana rolled back to her feet, mud and water sticking to her skin and hair, the spear held tight in both hands. Not one feet away between her and the shape-shifter, a cleaving and deep gap was ripped in the waterbed. She swallowed hard.  **"** _ **DON't**_ **MAKE me** _ **Laugh!**_ **... It Hurts."** , it kept on, while heavily dragging itself through its own sludge, seawater and dirt.  
  
"Stay Back!"  
  
Maui's sudden affront freed Moana from shock and she wanted to throw him a short thankful look for his support in threatening the beast further. But he wasn't shouting at it, he was looking directly at  _her_. His brown eyes only gave a hint of how badly this could end for her and it was too small to make its way through her thick skull. A defiant response formed on her tongue, though the eel wouldn't let this opening slide. Strength filled the sluggish mass and in a blink of an eye it came rampaging, threatening to squash the both of them. There was no other chance than to leap back. His second warning stuck in his throat, Maui spun around, dodging the eel’s onrush. Two cold, moist whips hurled, threatening to get a better taste of him. Maui smacked them away, out of his face, away from his legs, only then a second was given to him to check how Moana was doing. One heartbeat. Again warm saltwater wet her backside and she hurried back to her feet. The mighty eel - now separating them - was fixed on her as it turned, not slowing down. Moana stumbled backwards, away from its darting tendrils, which drilled deep holes into the sand, where she had stood only stood seconds ago. Penetrated, her legs gave in, as she timed too late her last escape. She only saw the infested tentacle hurling from the corner of her eye and was hit across her torso. She felt a flash of pain, a whispering crunch in her ribcage. Air was forced out of her lungs, her vision blurred, as her fall was intercepted by the ocean. Her ears rang in a whistling sound and panting she clenched to her conciousness. Her spear. Where was her spear? It was floating towards her by the surge, a shadow towered above. The young chief caught hold on her weapon in the last second as something sticky wrapped around her leg and dragged her abrupt through the sand, lifting her high up in the air.  
  
_**"That's All?!**_ **Pityful!** _ **"**_ , almost disappointed the eel held her up to its face like observing her.  **"Where's Your** _ **Courage**_ **Now** _ **Little Chief?! ...**_ **Get me a** _ **taste of it!**_ **"** Dangling upside down like a caught mouse, Moana felt hot, suffocating breath blowing in her face and stared down into a black, rotten maw. Her scream stuck to her throat and she desperatly tried to stab at the eel’s jaw.  
  
" _ **NO!**_ "   
The Demigod’s cry was distant.   
Disraught Maui watched her facing death far too close. Far too soon! The bonds of his held up guard snapped like being melted by fire. It had shielded him from attacks. Afraid to lose what he just had found, a bitter reminder of his fears came crushing down. His face twisted into a demonic grimace, he drove his hook wildly against everything, so nothing would block him. His hole arm was tense, his muscles dug through his skin, as he put all energy he had into a mighty throw. The fish-hooks carved lines glowed, turning it into a twisting disc that cut singing through the air, shredded the eels tentacle at its core and disappeared in the night sky. Shaken by pain the monster let out a bone chilling scream and thrashed its tail down at the Demigod, pressing his full size into the sand.  
  
Moana came down flying with a startled cry, the spear still in both hands and her reflexes kicked in. With force she drove it deep into the beasts skull. Tendrils twined around her and the fresh wound, as the eel shook its head violently, trying to shake her off. Even though every tension pierced her flank and stinged her lungs, the young chief wouldn't let go. She gritted her teeth until her jaw hurt and pressed her eyes shut.  _ **"LET GO!",**_ its roar vibrated in her mind, making her dizzy. Finally the wood in her hands cracked and she fell. The 18-year-old didn't feel the impact. Her ears rang and wouldn't let any other noise reach her. She moaned, as the burning sensation of the eel’s touch spread over her body like fermented fruits on the tongue. Against the pain in her torso, she pushed herself around groaning, trembling, awaiting to be swallowed whole. Low chuckling - or coughing? - rumbled from its guts and it turned away to its other victim, who was still stuck beneath its tail.  
  
Maui managed to rip rotten flesh from his nose and mouth and greedily inhaled. He had felt his right shoulder blade shatter, when the eel had crushed him. Sure, he knew slight injuries, but a broken bone was something he had  _rarely_  experienced in his entire life. Panting and wheezing out in pain he stared up at the eel. Moana’s spear was still sticking out of its forehead. Did it get her?! His chief! Gone? Maui's heart cramped by the thought of Moana being devoured. ‘ _Curly!’_ Fueled by frustration new found energy struck through his arms and shoved the agony aside, pushing himself back to his feet. Gleeful the eel absorbed every sore noise coming from him.  _ **"Aaah! These Sounds! Pity,**_ **PITY!"** _ **,**_  in a sadistic notion the eel kept smacking its tentacles down at him, leaving burned marks on his skin, when he could not dodge.  **"IF Only I Could SEE You SUFFER!"**

Moana swallowed her pain, urging herself to stand, while gruesome noises came from her friend. She could almost feel his suffering as her own and desperate she looked for a way to help him. Then it came to her. He had thrown his hook at it to save her life, so it had to be somewhere! He needed his hook, but where was it? As fast as her legs could carry her beaten body, the young chief took cover between the cliffs. This wouldn't work in the long run, she was sure of it, but this way she felt secure enough to take a better look around.  **"OH, Maui...** _ **Mauiii**_ **"** , the eel’s words took a weird course, almost consoling.  **" ... Siding With Humans! Again? -Even** _After_  What They Did To  _Her_?!"    
She dared to take a look, even though she was afraid of what she might see. Her stomach twisted as she saw how an exhausted Maui was pinned down, tossed around and smacked off his feet into the harsh rocks, where they had cornered the eel before. Anguish forced a painful scream against his gritting teeth. Maui’s skin was burning from the poison, his limbs bruised and trembling he fought to stay awake. He had to find a way to smack his damn skull in, once he got his hook back. He'd kill him slowly for what he had done to Moana and he wouldn't show that bastard anything else but pure hatred and dominance.  **"Tell Me,** _ **Demigod!**_ **"** , the eel pressed his back again into the rocks, he felt his body cracking and slaver dripped on him. **"Isn't This What You Wished For?!"**  
  
Chief Moana didn't know why, but she found it odd how the eel talked to him, but she had no time to think about it. Smeared over with its mucus, she hurried from stone to stone. She figured, if it couldn't taste her under all this goo, she'd be able to get closer to it unnoticed. 

\-----------------------------------

The buff woman wouldn't let her body give up on her and flew over sticks and stones. Mist was still covering the island and filled the deep, broad sand mark, that dragged itself alongside the high coast. Disrooted palms and banana trees and crushed boulders cobbled her path, as a bright star showed itself in the black sky, grew bigger.  _And flew over her head?_ Iida turned one moment with her mouth slightly dropped open and hesitated.   
  
"Iida! Wait!" it was Aheahe, one of the fastest hunters of Motunui, who had caught up on her quite well. She let him catch his breath.  
"Did you see that?" Iida wouldn't wait for an answer and started running again at his side.   
"Yes.", the exhausted man’s lungs whistled. "What .. What was that?!"  
"Not important!", she growled uneasy breathing. "We got to hurry!"

..

As soon as Tui’s legs could carry him again, he didn't want to waste one second to get back to the fight. It wasn't difficult to follow the eel’s tracks of destruction, it had left on its rampage. Horror visions of what might've happened in the meantime, while he wasn't around, crossed his mind. Would he find the gruesome remains of one of his friends? Or of his daughter? No, he wouldn't watch another of his loved ones disappear! The father of two refused to let any monster or god make him bury his child! He wouldn't let this happen ever again! Tui managed to shove these bitter thoughts aside and lifted by his courage to fight, protect everyone of his people. He gained speed and clinged to his spear. All he saw was black sky and white mist surrounding him. A feint noise of wings was all he could hear, as a silver cloud tackled him out of the fog. The unseen force didn't only startle him, but also pushed him out of the way of something heavy crushing into the earth. Hard ground broke his fall and dust, sand and pebbles rained over him. Grunting he got back to his feet and spun around to face his attacker with readied weapon, but nobody was there. Instead a white, curved shape loomed out of the stone. He widened his eyes amazed, as he eyed the impressive crafted weapon of the Demigod that had almost smitten him in two. A chill ran down his spine as he spied into the foggy banks. This  _thing_  hadn't attacked him. It had  _saved_  him. Whatever it was, it was gone now. Not taking the time to consider why or it had been intentional at all, he shouldered his spear and jolted the hook in a few attempts from its spot. Tui wasn't weak. He was a strong, broad shouldered man and could be intimidating at times, but this artifact was too heavy for him to carry it with only one hand. Holding it almost told him how strong the shape-shifter truly was. He huffed impressed and had to admit, it was admirably, in an alarming way. ‘ _He'll need it.’_ , he thought firmly and continued his way, slighty slower than before. 

 

...   
  
"You .. Talk ... Too much!", Maui pressed out snarling not daring to show too much pain. "Quit the chit-chat and get On with it!"  
The huge eel towered above him like a moai of rotten flesh and writhed priggish, as he chuckled low.  _ **"Great Maui!**_ **Giving Up** _ **So Soon**_ **? How** _ **Dissappointing!",**_ it purred and stared at his victim for a moment.  **"Whyyy though ... ?"** moist, burning mucus smeared over his frame, as if it could find answers on his skin.  _ **"AH! How Precious!"**_ , it found them and laughed at him.  _ **"The Little Brave Chief!? HAH! Who would've GUESSED?!"**_ Suddenly freed from all its glee, the eel’s head jerked its jaws aggressivly at him and snapped only inches away from his face.  _ **"WHO IS SHE TO GET A HOLD ON THIS WORLD FOREVER?!**_ **",** it shrieked furiously.  _ **"YOu're A Fool To Believe This cute leash Could Protect Her From Ro'e’s Grasp!"**_ , and as suddenly as its fury arrived, it went on to be gentle again. So much as a decaying beast could sound.  _ **"Oh, Maui ... You Can't avoid the inevitable ..."**_  
  
Moana was the only spot of color in a sea of black and white, as she crawled hidden by rock and slime closer and listened closely. Strangely to her, the eel almost sounded somewhat  _jealous?_  Its words tore at her insides and only fed the fire inside to free him from its grasp. ‘ _Leash?’_ , she mouthed and frowned in confusion. Eager to know more, maybe to read something in Maui's expression about it, she took a peek with running heart. She tried not to gasp as she saw something showing in his face, she'd never believed to see.  _ **" The Brave HEAD ON, everything Will Fade!"**_. The once headstrong Demigod lowered his eyes in defeat.  **"Except ... For ...  You."**  
  
Distressed Moana clenched her chest as she witnessed his breaking down pride. Did he think she was dead? Devoured by that despicable monstrosity? It hurt her deep below to watch his defenses die, even worse than back then when Tamatoa had almost killed him. A sudden and cruel enlightenment crossed her mind. All this time, the cocky Demigod had carried a massive fear of losing anyone too close to him. Losing her to time. His behaviour, his refusal to live amongside her people, how he had held her at bay, it was all so clear now. He only had tried to protect himself and she had pushed him anyway. Brutal guilt let her lock her eyes on him, when she spotted two known faces sticking out behind the cliffs above them. Moana didn't know how fast hope could get a hold on her again, as she hastily ripped a bright red piece of tapa from her skirt and waved it at Iida and Aheahe. They saw it. Maui did too.   
  
**" ... Unless ... ",**  the eel spoke quietly now, what still sounded like shouting to the mortals. **" ... Let her embrace you once again ... "**  
  
How embarrassing it was to him, that Moana seemingly had seen him in this state of weakness was hidden by his sudden returning grin, as she crossed his eyes.  
" _Nah_ , Gonna pass!". Maui sucked in the stupid face the eel made, as a loud battle cry from the cliffs ripped the silence in shreds. Like a harpy Iida swooped down on the startled monster and buried the sharp tip of her spear deep into the huge skull. "WAY to GO,  _Beach-Boy!_ ", Maui roared laughing and strained got back to his feet. There was lots of life left in him after all. While Iida stemmed her strong legs on the beast’s nose and not letting go of the pole, Maui groped one of its swirling tendrils and jerked at it with force, holding it with all his force on the spot.   
  
The young chief spat out a metallic taste and jumped at the wetly shining tower of decay. A glimmer ran through its scales and she felt her hair stand up, as a feint sound of thunder came from it. And the cry of a huge bird. Moana widened her eyes in disbelief when she saw Maui's memory shining through.  
"MAUI!", Moana shouted right away. "It Has Your Spell!"

A spear was thrown to her feet. Aheahe waved at her, thankfully she seized it and peared through its guts. Painful it flinched shrieking loudly and threw its body around, trying to get away from the sudden attackers. Again Moana’s pole splintered as if she had hit something hard inside the eel’s guts. She looked at the useless stick " _Urgh!_ " and threw it away. The Demigod hauled once again at its tentacles, pulling it closer to his range. Iida jumped off, taking her lance with her.  
  
"Normally I'm not beating up worthless carcasses like you!", he sneered at the monster. "But I'll gladly make an exception, just for you, leechy!" As his fist clashed on the eel’s frame, he felt bone get dashed in and it got cast down into the mud, leaving huge traces in the sand. "You're  _A REAL JOKE_  showing yourself here again!", Maui shouted, bearing his teeth in a wide, angry grimace as he jumped into the sand, getting after it. Standing between the people behind him and the hideous creature, he showed all stowed fury in his warrior face. Moana and Iida took a step back, as Aheahe closed in and only watched the usually friendly guy turn berserk right in front of them. The young chief knew how threatening his anger was, but she had never seen him so out of control. She wasn't sure if it truly was just his haka or if the words he spoke next had a deeper meaning to it.  
"Didn't I make myself clear last time?!", he closed in a single leap and clutched its jaws so it wouldn't bite him. "Stealing My Story _?! Threatening the people I Care About?!"_

" _Will end badly for YOURS and ONLY!_ ", Maui's rage was accompanied by a loud unpleasant crack as he violently crushed the huge monster’s bones and a muddy scream was forced out of the eel. Agony shook the eel’s twitching body to the core. Maui pressed his tongue through his grinning teeth and quite satisfied held up the razor sharp tooth, he just had ripped from its jaw. "In case 'ya still don't get it ... ", he continued, ripping out another tentacle to be sure to have its attention. " _All_  the people who chose to come on this land, should be allowed to stay  _And_  to live here for the next thousands of years! That's the  _Only_  reason I pulled the islands out of the ocean in the first place!" His fingers rapped around the last tentril, dangling lash down, ready to tear its damn face off. " **Not. Only. For. You!** "   
  
A sudden flash struck through Maui’s impressive body with a loud bang and sending him flying off backwards. Like struck by lighting too, Moana seized Iida’s spear out of her hands and didn't think what she was doing next. His words held onto her like the shell of a turtle. Watching him losing his mind in an unstoppable rampage after almost giving up, fired up a mighty storm inside her. Moana hurried at his side and only had to take one close look to see a dark shade of blue and purple devouring his right shoulder. The huge man was steaming and moaning in pain, cowering in the shore. " _Maui!_ ", she anxiously called out to him, trying to secure him and helping him to his feet. He eyed her like seeing the ghost of a recently receased and hurt Moana looked away to the twitching carcass. The shimmer on its skin was not shown again and One of three hearts was still beating. It shuddered, trying to move. It wasn't dead, but it was dying. ... Again.  
  
Moana stared at it with a firm expression, as she left Maui's side and closed in on it. "Moana.", she ignored his warning tone and held all the spoken words close, not to forget. It had not only tortured his body, but had also exposed something from him she had wanted to hear from Maui himself. Lividly she quivered and she wanted to make it suffer for everything it had done to Maui, but no spirit was left there to be crushed. The young chief glared at dead eyes, as the jaw flickered to hushly rumbling words.  
**"Heinous Vermon, bask in victory as you please ... I'll hear you weap soon ... "**  
" _Yeah, good for you._ ", Maui scoffed growling, as he closed in and pulled Moana further back. "Chief, have you seen my hook?"  
"Why do you always ask me where your stuff is?", she responded snippy, hissing holding her pounding flank, as her injury got now her full attention.  
"... Are you hurt?"  
The young chief shortly looked at him after hearing the sorrow in his tone. For some reason she couldn't stand looking at him. "I'll live.", she clearly was not. A big bruise had formed across her torso. It was a miracle she wasn't knocked out by it on the spot and that she could still stand! One thing stayed in her mind, from the moment the eel had hurled one hurtful question after another at him. As if the Demigod’s rage had found hold inside her now and she sounded more upset than intended. "Look at youself, Maui!" The shape-shifter got only slightly startled by her and idly started scraping through the shallow water with his foot.  
"Shuddit! I look Awesome!"  
" _No!_  You look like sh-"  
"Moana! Maui!", Iida’s strong voice interrupted her, as she came running. The buff woman had seen better days, but she had only slight marks of the eel’s tentacles. She eyed Moana from top to toe, then Maui. "You look like shit.", she ignored his indignant glare and threw a hesitant look at the eel’s cadaver. "Is it dead? ... " All three looked at each other, then at the monster. It hadn't moved or said anything, all three hearts had stopped beating when they were busy mocking each other. Tiny poked him in the chest, as che checked for his little friend. "You okay, buddy?". The tattoo had its neck in a soft collar and pointed to his right arm with nervously tapping foot. Maui shrugged at Tiny, but flinched in pain hissing. Alarmed Moana tended to him, consoling him with a tender touch. "It does look really bad, Maui ... "  
He eyed her hand, then her sorrowful face. " ... I'll live." A heartbeat later he trailed off again, kept searching through the gentle waves.  
Curious Moana watched him some moments and followed his gaze. "What .. What are you looking for?"  
"A trophy?" after some seconds more he grinned widely. "Ah, Here!", and fished the huge tooth out of the sand. It was sharp, sawed on the inner curve and as long as Moanas arm. He cleaned it in the water one handed. "Gotta nice idea what to do with it!", he told her excitedly grinning from ear to ear as he realized she had no clue what he was getting at.  
  
Iida turned away closing in to the still carcass. How it lied there was finally matching his decaying features, she figured and huffed. She had never fought a fight that important and it still pulled at her senses. Wary, wooden looks traced along its full length, skin straps, scales and loose guts rocked in the waves and there was something else. Iida narrowed her eyes, threw a wary look in its face. It was dead. The buff one dared to take a closer look. There, under all its flesh was something moving, beating like a heart. A breeze, white, hot pain shut her down and everything went black. Moana screamed her name, as Iida’s body sank down and turned the water crimson. 

...

When Tui reached the top of the hill with heavy breathing and Maui’s fish-hook still in both hands, he had a hard time coping with what he saw. There, down in the lagoon of his people lied the huge monster and three figures standing around it. Moana, Demigod Maui and Iida. There were no signs of the other hunters, so he figured they probably went back to their settlement to bring the good news. Moana’s father breathed in deeply, but something bugged him. The lagoon was still as good as free from the ocean. Huge waves paced at the reef’s edge like wating for the perfect moment. As the notion came, something wasn't right about this image, he saw Iida examining the dead body. In the blink of an eye he saw the carcass come back to life and snapped at the hunter. Her arm. It was gone! Chief Tui, screaming to the top of his lungs, rushed down the rough earth.  
  
...  
  
"NO! Iida! No No No!" Moana shot to her side, while Maui parried the fangs of the risen beast. It had been dead! She was sure of it! Even Maui was dazed by terror as he took note of the blood shedding. Tears streamed down her face, as she tried to drag her friend out of reach. "Stay with me! Stay With Me, Please!" It had warned her. It had spoken of revenge and that’s what it got. The young chief held her body close and tred to stop her from bleeding out with trembling hands, when she heard a roaring voice that lifted her spirit again. Her Father came running down the cliffs towards them. "MAUI!", he shouted and hurled the hook with both hands away.   
  
" _NOICE!_ " he cheered, leaped high up into the air, catching his dear friend with his left. A flash went through his arms, drawing glowing lines over his skin, like completing a rare set of a treasure map. For a short moment he was amazed, shocked. The fog had drained the magic out of him.  _Thunderous eyes, clashing skies. Bright wings, the wind pressed in his face_ , as he leaped with a mighty " _ **CHEEE-HOOO!**_ " into the air. His shoulder shook off the last bit of  purple as his carpet healed his whole body. Tears of joy almost made him blind. How could he forget?! His sharp hawk-eyes crossed Moana’s distraught face while smearing herself with beach-boy’s blood, not only feeling  _her_  pain and it turned his little happy time into ash. He ended the snapping jaws with a stone cutting blow of his hook and spun around to help Moana get their friend out of here.

 

 


	17. Kananan abubuwa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "kananan abubuwa" means 'small things' 
> 
> Urgh .. couldn't find a point. .. hope it's not too boring.  
> Mostly talking, plotty things and little fluff/bonding. 
> 
> Next chapter will be "interessting" ;D

Iida was alive.  
That's how the story goes anyway.   
  
Since she and Maui had carried her to the healers, the chieftess just sat there on the front porch. Staring into the night with trembling, crimson hands, her heart was tortured by this one dark second. There should've been tears, but they froze and tore painfully at her cheekbones. The aching in her chest flew down to the tip of her toes, up to her scalp. She dove in her pain, fully embracing it to feel anything else than the chills.   
  
_Is this what you wished for?_  
  
Moana breathed a shudder like swimming in ice. Excited shadows in the torchlight behind her, ruffling, exchanged words which were too distant to understand. Scared to hear the worst, she blocked them all out. Iida was strong, enduring like ebony! Tala once told her Iida’s roots ran deep. Small white orbs fell in her bright red hands. The young chief pressed her lips shut and grimaced, as if she wanted to suffocate her own emotions. She would not cry. She would not weep or make any other pathetic sound, even if it crushed her insides. Moana would not give Ro'e any sign of weakness, she didn't dare to. Iida had faced death before, surely she could do it again. Heavy steps behind her, the shadow she threw on the earth grew larger and she didn't make eye contact with the man guiding her inside. Her father’s gentle voice idly ran by her ears. ‘ _Don't look. She'll be alright. Don't look.’_  She forced herself to take a peek to the 4 healers bloodied hands, bent over her friend, trying to stop the bleeding.   
  
_I will hear you weap soon!_

Moana didn't move as she was cleaned by her mother and a healer tended to her own injury. She didn't speak as Sina’s asking words just flew by. When the smell of healing herbs filled the hut, she was able to breathe and her heart could slow down. Nothing seemed to be broken. She did have a huge bruise and it looked worse than it was. Guilt shouted at her, made her hate herself for being the lucky one. She could still feel the sound of clashing jaws in her ears.  _Snap! Red._  Moana flinched and suppressed a hiss, holding her flank. "There ... " she heard one of the healers say and a relieved sigh reached around. " .. Now all we can do is wait."  
"She'll make it.", said Tui like he could decide what would happen. "She's strong."   
  
The young chief didn't respond and just let all happenings go by. She didn't want them near her. She didn't want them to read secrets in her face, she entrusted only to the lonely night. When the last of them left her to rest and she felt alone enough, silent tears rolled down her face. A scratching sound from the beams made her swallow down hard the announced streams. Moana panted, reflexes made her head turn. Small, yellow eyes gleamed at her from the darkness, as a huge lizard climbed down the post. Hesitant it looked at her, tilted its head - a flash lightened the hut - and a shadow sneaked on velvet paws soundlessly closer. Moana couldn't recall to have seen this kind of animal before. A fluffy, spotted pelt tickled her arm, as the feline rubbed itselt at her purring. His jaws were flat, with a narrow, broad nose and whiskers. Pointy, brush-like ears. Big, golden eyes looked at her in a consoling way and she felt the ice melt away. Maui didn't say anything as Moana wrapped her arms around his mane and pulled him close crying. 

\---------------------------------------  
  
No day had gone by without Moana not leaving Iida’s side. The buff woman had fought hard against a hot feaver and pain that had shaken her strained body in her sleep. Moaning had prevented Moana from sleep. At first she had tried, but her own mind showed her again and again the gruesome images she had witnessed. Her dreams were filled by the eel’s voice. Its face suddenly appearing out of black smoke, an abyss-like gullet to swallow her. Often she had woken in shock and a cry, staking, bathed in cold sweat. Sometimes the Demigod had sat there, watching over her, or tending to Iida and had eyed her startled. Seeing him caring for the ill huntress had filled a fast emptiness bitten out by the monster with warmth. Like this night, Moana lied there, trailing her eyes along the ceiling until tiredness would finally kick her into nightmares. Suddenly the air was filled with a strong, sweet scent that bristled in her nose. _-Clonk-_ The sound of something wooden made her sit up and throw her curls around. A bowl was being played with by gravity. The gentle torchlight threw the shadow of a fluffy, short-tailed wildcat dancing on the tapa-carpets next to Iida. His tattoos ran in a beautiful color scheme of ebony and copper and made his golden coat somewhat fiery. A small pouch was dangling from his muzzle. Maui stood still and busted. " _Me-ow!_ ", he said muffled and very convinced to be in character, before tapping closer to Iida. Moana drew a thin smile and watched him shaping his front paws back to hands to unwrap the small bag. She was a little fascinated by how silly he looked. " ... What is that?"  
  
"These are called  _hands!_ ", he grinned his razor sharp teeth at her and lifted his huge palms for her to see.  
"I meant  _you!_ ", Moana sighed, rolling her eyes and pointing to all of him. Maui glared at her with narrowed eyes. Here he thought it he couldn't have been more obvious. Had his skill to blend in rusted while he had been in contact with the normal folk too long? Probably already smelled like them. He took a sniff at his pelt and twitched his whiskers.  
"It's A _Cat!_ ", he hissed at her, like she was being stupid.  
  
"I got that part." Moana huffed annoyed and leered at him, shifting to her other side. It didn't matter how she lied down, it hurt allways, which she welcomed. She didn't see his worried eyes and growled. "... You're not going to tell me what's in that pouch?"  
  
The strong tomcat made a round back. "I dunno, maybe if you ask a few times more?", he purred and combed his silky mane, before shaking away some fur between his fingers. " _Ugh_ , stuff's made hands sticky...", he mumbled, cleaned his palms and started grinding the herbs into a paste. In seconds the whole hut was filled by the strong smell, prickling up her nostrils and filling her lungs. It made her mouth water and her skin shiver. " _Ugh_  ... _Ouf._ ", Maui pulled his head away from the mash and shifted back with a  _zap!_

Tears glittered in the torchlight, like he just chocked on a red pod. Curious she regarded his face. Moana had never seen this tough hulk even close to crying. She knew it was something completely different and she didn't think she'd ever see him cry out in sadness. The young chief had to consider that, despite her not wanting to see him like that, it did make him more human. Closer to her. Maui wiped his face dry and crossed her gaze awkwardly sniffing. She couldn't tell if his face had turned red because of the herbs or because he knew why she was staring." ..  _Uhm._  Want some?", he raised the stuff in his hands. Moana lifted a brow, eyeing the stuff suspiciously. The stench resided in her nose, kicking her senses. "Uhh ... I think I'm having enough, thank you."  
  
He chuckled, then shoved a small drop between Iida’s lips. "This'll help her sleep.", he explained. "So you'll grow strong, beach-boy!"     
"Will it grow her a new arm too?", her voice was feint, almost whispered, but clear for him to hear. Cringy he rubbed over his neck and dropped the smile he had held up for her. Loosing a limb was cruel for a hunter, but bad luck wanted her to loose the weapon arm in particular. Moana looked at her big friend and huffed. It was not her intention to give him the feeling he had been responsible for what had happened. She knew he already had so much on his shoulders, so she'd carry this burden all by herself. She wanted to say something, but she felt her apologizing eyes being rejected by his wall. "I'll leave you to it then.", he growled -  _Zap!_  - and dragged his green, scaly tail back into the shadows. 

  
\---------------------  
  
From sundown to moonhigh they sat in council. Gentle torches were flickering in the corners, while a warm campfire danced within their mids. The night was silent and starless and the area around their settlement was hushed down due to the serious arguments thrown around. Voices were loudly overlapping each other that Moana’s ears rang. Small half moons lied under her eyes, she had suffered under grave nightmares since Iida. The young chief felt horrible for what had happened. She should've stopped Iida from getting too close to it. But instead she had had to care for an immortal, who got healed right away when touching his hook. How that could've been possible was a less important question to her right now. Moana frowned and flinched to the bang of a small wooden drum. " _Friends!_  Calm down, please! There's no need to-", her father tried to break up the arguments.   
  
"I just don't understand why we're still here if this fog is dangerous.", said an elder loudly.  
"The wind is back! We should go home while we still can!"   
"I don't see any danger here anymore.", responded another. "We fought the eel and won. We have a right to stay!"  
"Who said it was the only monster here?"   
"You see monsters everywhere! ", threw an old woman in. "... Probably still keep looking for Kakamora in your vases ..."   
"Fine, you want to stay. But I don't!"  
  
Lost in thoughts Moana stopped paying attention for a moment. She could only imagine how frightened her people must've been, while she and her father had been fighting the eel, without asurance of ever returning. With Iida already being gravely injured, reality was hard on them enough to think about leaving. How could she blame them? They had listened to her amazing stories about wayfinding and followed her into the new world. Her familiy had been trapped here because of her in the first place. If she hadn't wanted to prove she could lead her people into the brave new world, nothing of this would've happened. It wasn't Maui's fault or even Ro'e’s. What happened to her people was her responsiblity. She had endangered them, listening to the call inside her and had almost died. The eel’s attack had cracked her ribcage a few days prior and a dark, purple patch was now adorning her chest. This monster. That hideous image of everything twisted still shook the ground beneath her. It had shown her a new world of how wrong she had been and its venomous words haunted her dreams. How it had talked to the Demigod shot back in her neck and wouldn't let go.  _Leash._  How could it have known of her and Maui? Had it seen their connection despite its blindness? _  
  
"Is this what you wished for?"  
_ Dread clawed its way over her skin, as she heard its question loud and clear and cold beads of sweat formed on her temples. " _Chief Moana?_ " Silence hummed in her ears, unsteady heart beats pumped blood through her veins, blushed her cheeks. _"I will hear you weep soon."  
  
_ When a strong hand patted her arm, Moana flinched with terrified widened eyes. Tui threw a sorrowful look in his daughter’s face.  
"Moana?" All gazes were set on her like pinning her down on the spot. Pride wouldn't let her show more weakness and she panted awkwardly laughing.  
"I'm sorry. What did you say?", she wrote it off, acting like she knew who was speaking to her. Her people hesitated confused and her father only stared at her.  
" ... Moana ...", her father took another look around, not sure what to make of it.  " ..  _You_  did."    
  
The young chief stared at her father like he had Hei-Hei sitting on his head and her mouth dropped open. Awkwardly touched she leered around. She had spoken these words out loud and everyone had heard them. She didn't even realize. Moana froze on the spot. "What?" Alarmed her father touched her shoulder.  
  
"Moana, if you don't feel so well -"  
"I'm fine!", she spat impatient, but faltered, when she heard her own tone. " ... I'm fine. I'm sorry. .. .What I was trying to say. I - ... " , sticking to the arguments she could still remember, she cleared her throat. " We were pretty lucky. We survived Te Kā's curse, we sailed after 16 generations over the ocean, without losing a soul. We fought for the new world, and still we're all alive. We are still together. ... And we should work to keep it that way.". She made a pause without fixing her eyes.   
  
" ... Moana?", Tui still looked at her with worried eyes.   
" ... If one wants to leave, so shall the rest of us.", Moana’s voice was low and confessing. It was not easy to her to speak it out loud. That it had been a huge mistake to have come here. "Nobody will split us in two. Nobody is left behind ... So says the chief."   
  
After the council was finally over, Moana’s mind was blank. It had seemed to go on for hours, if they should stay or go. In the end it had been Tui to suggest waiting until the next fullmoon to decide. Moana was tired, but afraid to sleep. Every night she had wild dreams of fog and voices, telling her things that didn't make sense and she didn't ask for. She shoved the tapa aside, after climbing to her feet with her father’s help. She thanked him shortly and wandered off without looking at him. He knew where she was going and didn't stop her. He could imagine how Moana must've felt after seeing a life long companion fall victim to such fate. Now, everything Moana could do was talking to her and hoping she might be heard.   
  
\------------  
  
Isolated from any gossip or other loud noises and hidden by tapa carpets, Moana sat in the shadows, facing the hushed morning sun. She hadn't had rested her eyes all night long and had only crawled through her mind for answers. This curse seemed so big. How could she stop something as powerful as a god? How could've she believed she'd be something special, only because she befriended a Demigod. Thanks to her arrogance the most loyal person she had ever met had something to face that would crush her own walls in an instant. Iida was still far from conciousness and shaken by fever at night. The poison had made her skin sore and spotted. Moana forced herself to look. This was her doing. She had chosen Iida, because she thought the buff woman knew how to face it. The young chief was fixed on her boiling rage toward herself and trailed her gaze along the spoiled tissue wrapped around Iida’s torso and shoulder. " ... I'm sorry.", Moana whispered and looked into her relaxed, sweaty features. " .. It warned me. ... and I didn't listen." Silence fell again, as Iida was just lying there, gently breathing. "Why can I never listen?", she started to talk in normal volume now, looking at her friend. Seeing her face always had something consoling, like finding shelter under a larg tree while rain is pouring from the sky.  
  
"I asked you, because I wanted this to work for us!". She sounded as if she wanted to explain to herself why it turned out so badly. Moana wiped over her eyes. "I was  _so sure_  to be on the right path!", she wiped down her face and shook her head in submission. " ... Now I don't know if ... Where should I start?!"  
  
" _Deep._ "    
  
Brown eyes goggled over her fingertips, rolling from side to side. Did she really hear this? Moana turned and checked if they were alone. When she was sure of it, she crawled on all fours to Iida’s side. Was she awake? "Iida?" No. The strong woman was still asleep, drugged by a strong painkiller Maui had mixed and instilled in her. He had offered Moana some too, but she had rejected it. If Iida was damned to live a broken warrior’s life, then Moana could at least suffer with her in some way. She would bear even more pain than this. And after that she'd be there for her people, building her new home and guide them into the next generation. It was time for her to shove everything aside that would be a dangerous distraction from her duties. 

\--------------------

The next days Moana kept focusing on planning new buldings, groves, fishing grounds and of course some public announcements. Like, this damn fertility-feast the elders were nagging her about. The pure word kept her cringing in her red dancing gown. Fertility. And again, fertility. Moana wanted to show in her face how much she didn't want to do this, but she had to keep a neutral mask upright. She had wrapped fine, woven tapa bracers around her wrists, so nobody would see her tattoo. In fact nobody seemed to have noticed it at all. Was it too plain to see? The young chief inhaled deeply and tried to straighten herself, remembering the steps, the formalities of what would happen the next hours. There was no reason to be nervous. Not at all! She just was about to throw some poor guy of her people some hints that didn't mean anything, yet would turn their worlds upside down. No big deal! She huffed, feeling the borders of her tattoo under her thumb and heard low steps behind her.  
  
" ... I'm sorry Moana, but I couldn't find your crown. So I had to improvise a new one!", Sina held a green, bristly coronal with red flowers in her hands. One look in her face was enough to know that Moana wasn't so sure about it anymore. "Let me guess, you don't want to do this?"  
"Of course not!", she growled. She didn't even try to hide it. " All the boys out there-"   
" _Men._ "  
"What?"  
"They're young men, not boys."  
"Who cares what they- ", the young chief stopped jarring.  
"You're not going to woo children, Moana."   
" _Ew._  No."  
"See?"  
"Yeah. ...", then Moana frowned. "Wait, I had a point, where was I going with this?"   
  
Sina turned away with a silent smile, putting the leafy crown to the ground. She still remembered her first fertility dance and could understand how confusing it must be for Moana. Except it wasn't confusion to her daughter, it was unnerving. Like picking the own prison walls. The own leash. Slowly her fingers wandered to her tattoo again. She had seen Maui a few hours each passing day, but hadn't spoken to him much. Only had crossed his eyes from afar or given a friendly wave from time to time. The young chief sighed and wondered if the Demigod would be among the people tonight. Watching her dance and picking  _boys_  who  _might_  be a good match to her. She knew already they weren't. She had experienced what she was looking for in a partner. She needed challenges. Those who were strong enough to keep up with her were nice, sure. In fact, they were all kind of sweet, but she couldn't imagine bringing herself to waste their lives with her.  
  
"I can't just walk up idly on one of them and say  _'Yeah! Let's have kids, maybe-ish!'_ "  
"And I hope you wont.", she heard her mother and felt her gentle hands on her shoulders, before looking into her consoling eyes.  
"Whoever you chose should not only complete your life, but also plant strong roots for the future, Moana. So this desision shouldn’t be made  _idly._ "  
"Helpful, mom.", Moana responded dryly and hung her shoulders.  
  
Sina rolled her eyes and huffed. " ... So, you  _do_  still remember why you asked the elders in the first place?"    
The young chief departed a few steps and spied through the tapa. It was true that she wanted to get this over with. The older generation had bugged her for quite some time now and she hoped to quiet them down if she just played along. All she had to do now was finding happiness where she trailed off to. Into some relationship that would pin her down. Trapped and wrapped up in a selfgrown misery. She felt her fingers dig into the carpet as a strangely lonely darkness greeted her from afar, while thinking about it. Like her inner call warned her not to get lost.  
  
" ... Yes. ... ", she finally answered in a chilled tone that alarmed her mother. Moana heard her sigh out from behind and her feint ruffling as she got up and closed in.  
"I know this is hard for you, Moana.", Sina handed her the crown she had made and stroked her cheek. " ... but it isn't like you have to marry right away who ever will be the lucky one tonight. ... Remember, this is just a suggestion in case you can't decide."  
  
Slowly Moana’s eyes rose up to her when her mother’s words found a source of hope. True, this wouldn't be the only dance she had to witness. Urging to get this off her back and to move on, she had promised to pick a husband until the moon would shine the brightest. After that the elders would pick one for her and she feared it would be someone who slowed her down, to complement her rash nature. To slow her down. Keep her caged. It horrified her after tasting the freedom Maui had taught her. With this promise made, she would have the chance to choose someone for herself at least. But who should she chose if the Demigod was the only one she wanted to look at. Since the time in that glade all her senses were set on him. She missed him every second she tried to focus on her tasks. It was strange, but sometimes she had the notion to know where he was, or how he was feeling. Like sitting next to someone whose face was an open book. What she could read at his distant walls left a thick lump in her throat and it had grown ever since. Was it so wrong of her for wanting to be with him? She, a mortal non-princess and a Demigod? She wondered deep down. It clearly would give birth to many disturbances within their community. Clearly her father would be very pleased and Maui. ... Maui would have to spend maybe 20 years with a woman, who would shrivel after, while he stayed young. Moana wished she could fill the holes she just had ripped herself from her heart and faked a smile.   
  
"Thanks mom.", she sighed deeply.  
Sina smiled, buying it. "And so you know, your father is very proud of you ... ". her mother hesitated a moment, like considering to add something. She hugged her daughter tight. "You look beautiful, by the way." , a short tendering look in her daughter’s face later, she frowned. "Try not to look at this day like it's all ruined, Moana. ... You stil have some hours to make some happy thoughts."  
" ... Happy thoughts.", Moana nodded and kept smiling. "Got it."   
She knew she wouldn't find any.  
  
\-------------------------------  
  
Maui sat in the treetops and wasn't angry with Moana for not sticking to their deals anymore. And he wasn't pissed that she ignored him nowadays, for he felt like she needed some time, after what happened to bea- ...  _Iida._ It was more the fact that she wanted to leave. After everything he had done to secure their way into a new, exciting life, she bolted with the sails folded between her legs. Nice of her to say  _nobody will be left behind_  in their little council, but sticking to it seemingly was too much to ask for. He had listened a few days before and had heard enough. The shape-shifter had sat as a bug in some old guys hair, who had smelled like grilled chicken, and seen the fear in her eyes. Their bound had worked well to impart to him how she felt. Little curly always seemed so confident, but watching her friend almost being ripped apart had shaken her to the core. He still remembered her pale face, when she had sat there, staring into nothing with her hands painted in a red that didn't belong to her. Maui had thought she would burst out in tears any moment, but she had made no sound. She had swallowed all she just had seen and the Demigod knew this was wrong. He had to do something to pull her out of this doubt, so he had spend the last week carving and sharpening a spearhead. How tough it was to shape a demons tooth with normal tools can be understood by remembering how hard the eel’s tentacles had ripped through the ground.  _Tough_  was an understatement. He had been finished through with adorning the tooth with swirling lines, most fitting for Curly, when he had heard about this next important council he secretly had invited himself to.  
  
Now he was thinking about just finishing that thing, hiding it somewhere and leaving Moana small hints where to find it. That, and his wings did itch him. Very badly. Yet he'd stay and help her overcoming this massive failure she thought to have on her shoulders. Maui took the string he just had woven from flax fibres and started nimbling around. A little adjustment here and there ... "Maui?", it was Sina who called out to him from under the tree he sat in. He watched her a while looking for him. "Maui?" It was like calling a cat. Just a little more attention please? "Demigod?" Thank you, that's enough.  
  
" _Who Dares To Disturb The Gods?!_  ", he suddenly roared acting allmighty and peeked down sneering to look at her humoured face. The tiny boy was resting on her chest. " _Speak Mortal!_ " He heard a small laugh comming from her. " _It is me, a humble mother wishing for a short audience with the Demigod!_ " , she played along and lured a giggle out of him. ‘ _Hehe, humble_.’ Tiny cupped his cheek and waved at her. ‘ _Aw, you!’_  Maui leaned back, making the tree shake off some leaves.  
  
"I'm li- ", he cleared his throat. " _We Are Listening?!_ "  
"Afraid to look a brave human in the eye, oh great Demigod?!", she dared to challenge him. "I didn't come to shout at trees!"  
" _Excuuuse_  me, Ma'am?!", he squaked down at her. " _The Gods Don't Even Know What This F-Word Means!_  ... they don't even know what the  _L-word_  is. ... ", he cleared his throat again. " _And They're Always Busy!_ "  
"Busy? What are you doing?", the playful tone in her voice was gone, which he regretted dearly. Regarding her question, he looked at the work in his hands and had to grin at himself. " _Knitting._ ", he answered amused, braiding the string further. Sina thought she didn't hear right. "What?" 

  
" _Even The Gods Wear Socks In Bed! Don't Judge Us!_ "   
The woman laughed huffing and tended to the whining poopy-monster for a moment. "Please come down, Maui?", he heard her sweet request. "It won't take long." Huffing he couldn't ignore her and rolled his eyes, before shifting from his spot. One hand at a branch, the tree bent to his bidding, until he was on his feet. Letting go of the branch threw some fruits off flying - and a crying chicken. Both followed it with their eyes. "That's how I learned it.", he chuckled and turned to her, then. "Well?"  
  
"Well. ... I came to ask if you'll be there this evening."  
Curious he looked at her and tilted his head, throwing his long locks around. He had no knowing about anything going on this evening, so it threw him off guard, a bit.  
"Nnoo?", Maui frowned. Sina blinked a little embarrassed. " ... The dance? You haven't heard?"   
  
The shape-shifter raised his brows at her, losing track of what string came next in line. "Wait, Mrs. Curly! There's a party and I - Maui - don't know about it?!"   
Gently rocking her boy, Sina minded him for a moment. "I'm not sure if _party_  is an appropriate way of naming it, but ... Apparently so."  
  
Maui narrowed his eyes at this. How could a party not be adressed as such? "What's being celebrated?", he wanted to know and was sure to see something cracking the wall flower, like she was fishing for words. "Taking roots in the new land. It's just a small formality for Moana to make, so I thought you would like to be there."   
"Why didn't she tell me about this?", Maui asked slightly growling with suspicion.  
  
"I don't know." He saw her shrugging from the corner of his eye and could tell she was lying. "She has been engaged in her tasks very munch since ... ". Sina felt her mask crumble as she looked down at her son, whose eyes were set quite interested on the Demigod. As her mother, a drastic change in her daughter could not be hidden. She had grown cold, firm, her smiles were faked. Of course she had noticed! A mother sees all, and if not, she is asking the gods for help. Maui sighed deeply and scratched his neck. "Okay, I get it!", he stated. "Apparently she didn't want me there, but you think I should be. Right?" Hah! That busted face Sina made was something new to him and he grinned victorious. He had felt a certain push coming from Sina since she knew him. At first it had been adorable, but now it was like being chased in going a certain direction he couldn't go. The young chieftess hadn't had to tell him of the pressure wiping her backside since birth. Maui could not compare to such life. Settling down, living in earthly standards. Family. How romantic and silly it seemed to even think about such things was beyong his understanding. "I admire your devotion to your offspring,", he started kindly, but turned his voice to a lower, warning tone. "but I'm the wrong person to ask for help when it comes to teen-aging mood swings." he eyed her mockingly. "Isn't that your specialty, by the way?"   
  
If he overstepped a line, she didn't show it and eyed him obscuring. "I'm not asking you to talk to her, Maui. I just think she needs to see a friendly face among all the others."   
"What, are you implying your daughter has no other friends? - Of course I must be her favorite! -  _But pff. C'mon,_  Curly isn't that ugly!", he teased her. Maybe she'd give up and leave him alone. If Moana didn't want him there, then why should he gift her with his presence? On the other hand, he could show up just to spite her. A sharp sting in his chest made him change course. He had tried very hard not to spy on her, much, and kept to himself working on the tooth. Okay, then this one day he had spotted these other girls having some time at the beach while fishing. Their faces when they had realized his backfin and chickened out of the water had been priceless. Not to forget hunter A who had shown his fast running skills after a shark-attack out of the bushes. ‘ _Shark-face! Still good.’_  Anyways, Maui's thoughts had been with the chieftess the whole time and still were.  
"  _Pff_  ... Speaking of friends.", Sina scoffed slightly showing her thorns. He felt them tingle at his left. "Moana is facing a huge step in her life soon, Maui. And you are her closest friend! ... It'll be good for her to know that you're there with her."   
  
"No, it _won't_." He leered at her, like she just had poked him with a huge oar to show where it’s hurting the most. "I tell 'ya what'll be good for her: Some vacation from all the fuzz she went into! Like a boring life, planting trees, kissin' babies.", he eyed the baby boy who still stared at him. "Simple things, to know the world is still round! - Don't look at me like that, it  _is_  round - I checked.". Maui coughed. " ... And not something .. or  _someone_  to remind her of how bad things went."  
  
"Oh, she remembers well with or without you, believe me!", Sina made clear fishing Kaiko’s hand away from Maui's locks. "That's why she needs to see you."   
"She doesn't need me.", annoyed he turned away, looking for his hook. "She ordered big once or twice in her life and all she got was a whip in the chest, a friend being split up and a henn  _wanting to follow her heart._ ", his last words were underlined by his squaking voice.   
  
"Where is the part where you call yourself a worn rug?", she countered snapping and brought him to face her angrily. This gentle flower, with her subtile colors glared at him as she stung him with sharp thorns. It felt like giving a sea urchin a high-five. " _Careful there._ ", he gnarled a warning, but she didn't falter. Proud wall flower.  
  
"You have your wings back! You can leave anytime!"  
  
Yes, and no. He had misplaced his hook somewhere, but she didn't know that. Sina huffed, while lifting her son higher up her torso. " ... Yet you're still here.", she added less hostile, almost gentle again. "You know ... The thing about rugs is. ... The worn ones are sometimes the best to keep you warm."  
  
Dazzled Maui looked at her. It already was hard for him to understand how fast she had considered him part of her small community, only because she had faith in her daughter’s judgement. And now she just said she wanted him to be with her? Did she even imply him to be  _family_? Maui's hair stood and he filled his lungs to respond, a lump in this throat made him growl. "You need to stop. Now. I know what you're doing!", he scowled. "Some may find your motherly side  _charming_ , but to me it's grown somewhat tiresome! So, I'd be greatful if you'd stop buggin' me and go and shout at some more trees!"   
"You're out of line!", Sina snarled at him.  
"Good. Now,  _back off!_ ", he countered barking at her, like a kicked dog.  
  
Sina didn't even blink and stared at him, but the kid in her arms got frightened quite a bit. Big blue eyes were flicked away as the boy drew a high pitched squealing, before ducking into his mother’s arms for cover. Scaring a baby to tears was a feeling he really hadn't missed at all and startled he looked for some forgiveness.  
  
"Even  _He's_  annoyed!", he tried to loosen the situation a bit, while Sina shushed her son tenderly and throwing him some forgiving frowns. Watching her rocking the pooper woke an awkward version of fascination inside him. Like noticing something he didn't want to see, but couldn't look away from. A feeling that would make his neck itch. Sina locked eyes with him shortly. "Do you want to hold him-"  
  
"No!", he blared out. "Being chewed on by small, stinky monsters was close enough for comfort and something I don't intend to do again!"  
Sina chuckled slightly confused.  
  
"Kakamora.", he added.   
"Babies don't bite.", she defended her son. Why she didn't deny the other things he said about children was something he would think about before his next nap. " _Yet._ " he corrected her and heard another giggle coming from her. Her boy had calmed down fast and now kept staring at the hulk. Was he smiling?   
  
"What do  _you_  know about babies?", Sina wanted to know and leaned next to a tree to relax her back.  
"Don't feed them after midnight?", he suggested cheeky. She laughed again and shook her head. He had to admit, even after what she had thrown at him he didn't feel anything close to anger towards her anymore. Was it the way she acted around him or how she treated her children? Kaiko smiled again.  _Tiny hands!_ Fighting against this so called baby-charm, he coughed and stretched his arms.  
  
"So ... When's this thing starting?"  
Sina looked to the sky to check the sun. "At sundown." Two hours were left. Maui chewed on his lower lip, frowing. He was a little curious about this unimportant, huge step Moana had to make. Growling he looked from that burning idiot in the sky to the mother and pouted frowning. "Okay! I'll think about it!", he threw his arms in the air. "But the chance I'll agree to anything is smaller than  _his_  ability to do a double-backflip!" He meant the baby. At least he didn't call Kaiko  _it_  anymore.   
  
\-------------------  
  
"Why did I agree to this?", Maui looked down at the red tapa skirt Sina just had handed to him to wear.   
"Turn it.", she suggested smiling at him. Maui raised his brows, and even more as he did take a look on the whole thing. The red tissue had been tenderly worked on. Elaborate, fine patterns were twining into swirls around every single story which resided on his skin itself, but in a new design forming hooks. It was a masterwork. When she had given it to him, folded, he had thought it was some old cloth of another guy. This one had been crafted for him. His smug annoyance melted down and touched he looked up at her. The wall flower’s smile was stronger and made him lower his gaze in shame, hiding his blush under his locks.  
  
"Why?", left without his content and sounded somewhat sad, like he didn't believe to deserve her kindness.  
"For the same reason you are still here.", her answer sounded like prepared only for this question and gentle she took the tapa out of his hands, to hold it to his broad self. "I just hope it fits. We sat some nights weaving and sewing."   
"Who's  _we_?", he watched her ruffling the tapa and tugging at the strings of its belt.  
"Moana and I.", she told him smiling knowingly. "She did the pattern."  
  
Again he took a look at the fine craft. Moana had memorized his tattoos and had made something completely new, just to make him feel thought of? Embarrassment drove the blood back into his cheeks and he chewed on his lower lip. He felt her eyes on his face and made him turn away.  
"What? ... Speechless?", she murmured mockingly. "Who are you and what did you do to Maui?"  
" _Oh, Harr-Dee-Harr!_ " , he faked a laugh, but was truly grinning, cooling his burning cheek with a cold palm. The carpets were liftend and fiery sunlight blinded him a moment. A young woman stepped in. "Sina? I-", the girls mouth formed an  _Oh!_  without speaking it and stared at the strong man like at her favorite food. Maui enjoyed every delicious second of it and grinned playfully at her. " _Hey._ "  
"Ema.", Sina drew her attention gently back to reality. "What is it?"  
That girl named Ema was as tall as Sina, but slim and elegant. Full lips, a fine nose and long, wavy hair. Maui remembered her from his honoring-feast, where she had signalized him with her eyes how much she liked what she saw. To know it hadn't changed boosted his ego even more and he started flexing his arms behind Sina’s back. Ema seemed to have a hard time not looking at him. "..  _Yyes_  ... about the dance ... Moana asks how many coronals she has.", a hot blush formed in her face.   
Sina turned to Maui, who stood still again, observing his hook. The mother raised a brow.  _That girl ...  
_ "Five.", she answered shortly and shoved her outside once Ema started peeking again, playing with her body language. "And remind her, she doesn't have to give all of them away at once!  _Thank youu._ "  Once Ema was gone, Sina wanted to throw a condemning look at him but narrowed her eyes with raised brows. Maui still stood there, watching Tiny and Momo play beach-ball over his chest. He couldn't hide the broad grin residing in his features and threw a short look at her. "I always have that effect on chicks.", he shrugged in pure innocence.   
"Don't play with a girl’s heart, Maui.", she lectured him. "They're fragile and their wrath is devastating once it’s broken."   
" _Huh_ , good to know why _I don't want to be here!_ ", he reminded her, but Sina wouldn't hear it. Her pleasantly cool hands suddenly found his arm. A small notion made him timidly pull away. "Yet you are ... ", she countered in a low voice. " ... Why?"  
"Because you- and  _You!_   _And You!"_ , he addressed Tiny and Momo glaring too. "got your inky hands in my brains making it mushy!"  
Maui frowned angry as he couldn't find a more fitting snippet to confront her, but it had to do. The easiest answer came to his mind like a butterfly flying in his eye, bugging him, but Sina had a far better way of naming it. " _Nooo._ I hardly believe I, or we, -" she winked at his chest. "are fully to blame."  
"Oh, yeah?", stubbornly he crossed his arms dodging another of her attempts to fumble the tapa around his waist. "Why that?"  
  
The woman viewed his image, his tattoos a bit, before answering. She was thankful that he asked. She had waited some time to tell him what she believed he needed to hear. "Well, given to the circumstances how you spend the last thousand of years doing heroics ... I can imagine, it must've been hard work.", she started carefully considering her speech. " ... Hard work with little happiness ... "  
"I'm  _always_  happy!", Maui stated right away and blew up his chest proudly. Once Sina’s tone had changed into a sorrowful tone, he held up his guard.   
" ... Then why do you have such sad eyes?". The Demigod felt his protective shield being lunged away, leaving him bare and defenseless. Sina had touched a sore spot, he didn't want anyone to find, not even himself. He had hidden it deep under his bragging nature, yet she had hit it without aiming. Lucky shot. He didn't know if she told the truth how his eyes sparkled. Maybe there was still a bit of the ointment sticking in his nose. It did make him think though, long enough for Sina to sigh and choose what to say next.   
"You may correct me if I'm wrong, but ...", Sina closed in hesitant and looking directly at him. " ... I believe you're here, because all these- ", she pointed to the tapa carpets, each telling a story of his deeds. " - haven't changed a thing. ... On your skin, yes, or for our world. .. but not inside you."   
  
It was paradox to him to be told his inner walls by a woman who hardly knew him. Yet she had read the smallest cracks and could point them out one by one. How was it possible for a simple being to look through his tough shell. Well, Moana had done the same. She had been the first person in ages he had opened himself to, even talked to! Now being confronted by a broken image of his reflection, held up by Sina, paralyzed him and made him willing to listen. Sina watched his expression turn sour at first, then touched. A short moment she locked her eyes on the pure sadness residing on his still tense features. " ... It must've been very lonely having a foot in two worlds. ... "  
Maui didn't respond, he couldn't, a lump stuck in his throat and made his eyes drool. He swallowed hard, and breathed deeply, hoping to shudder off whatever just held down his fences. Cool hands consoled him gently. " .. Sometimes .. It’s the simple things making the world round again."  
The shape-shifter looked at her friendly face and needed a moment to speak clearly.  
" ... Nice to know someone was listening ...", he mumbled softly, then cleared his throat again, drying his eyes. "Well ... Let's get this over with then."

 

 


	18. walƙiya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "walƙiya" means 'spark'
> 
>  
> 
> :::::::::::::::::::::VENTURE CAREFULLY::::::::::::::::::::
> 
> ~EROTIC Dancing and hot blood! ( no smut )~

 

Shadows danced on the rugs and fires burned in sandy spots around the fog free area.  
  
All of the Motunuians were present and sat in a wide circle around a large, grassy glade, which was flagged with lit torches. On the left side, behind the families, lied a variety of food. The men had done a very good job cooking. Freshly picked fruits, roasted chicken, fish, quail and pork and baked bread-fruit balls. The shape-shifters mouth watered as the compelling aroma reached for his nostrils. He'd dig right into it, but for now he had to consider himself satisfyed with the peaches and nuts laying around in wooden bowls.  
  
The Demigod felt a little awkward in his new look. The fine tapa fit pretty good and matched his colors well, but it wasn't as flexible as the leafes which usually hid his hips. He had the feeling showing his butt unintensionly and didn't come around tugging at the fabric here and there. Sitting was another challenge. If he would relax his legs like he normally would, he might show another area which wasn't adored with tattoos.  
  
" _Probably should’ve listened to Mrs. Mom and put some undies on._ ", he mumbled to Tiny.  
  
The many curious eyes resting on his overbearing state weren't any help either. The people whispered to each other flustered and some grinned widely, like someone was about to prank him. Others weren't very fond of him being here at all, mostly young men. He spotted Aheahe, Baku among the other hunters on the right side and they threw suspicious looks. That they stared didn't nag him a bit, but something was off  _how_  they did it and he couldn't tell why.

"Does this make me look fat?", he whispered under his grin to Tiny, who shook his head and shrugged.  
" ...  _Hm_ , probably an insider ... "  A bumb in his side and something tugging at his hair made him turn.  
"Hey! Nobody touches the fluff!" Startled eyes flickered to him and to the baby, as it had  _finally_  got those tiny paws on the hypnotising waves. Alarmed he pulled his head back and flung the infant out of his mothers arms arms, right into his lab. Sina chocked in shock, the baby was giggling- still both hands tight in his locks- , the Demi-God shrieked.  
  
" _EEK!_ "  
Tiny human touching him. Demi-God can't cope.  
"No! Bad Baby!  _Shoo!_  Letgo!". Maui just fidgeted with his hands around the small child, not sure where to touch him. Panic made him squeal.   
"Sina,  _DO_  somethin'  _He's eating My hair! My Superior Hair!_ ", he whined melo dramatic. The baby did none of these things, but it could happen!  
"Stop squirling!", Sina climbed over his knee, to grope both her sons handsies. "He'll only hold on tighter!"  
Maui froze on the spot wide eyed.   
  
Laughter of the nearer people had found their ears by now, as Sina kneeled and freed the poor baby from the monsters grip. She snorted eager not to laugh at him and fought a mean grin forming on her face. Maui was as close to a brat as he ever intended and stared down at huge, googly blue spheres and a teethless, slobbery smile. Kind of reminded him of Moana. "If you pee in my lab as revenge for your 'Da, I'll sleep under your mat the next years.", he threatened growling at Kaiko and saw Sina fumbling around at the baby fists. The little boy only smiled at him, making huffing responses, while holding to the raven strands and testing his tiny feet on Mauis thigh.  
  
"Stop dancing.", he demanded low. "Sina??"  
  
Once Kaiko had something in his grip, he wouldn't let go so easily. The Demi-Gods hair had been very interessting for him the past weeks. No way he'd let go by force. Sina huffed, after digging her finger in the small fist, to loosen his grip, but that was  _his_  lock now. She huffed and looked apologizing into his disraught and pethatic face.   
"Nope. Nothing. ... Guess we have to cut it off." , she joked. The demi-god eyed her frowning, then a mean grin formed on his face.  
  
"Don't you think he'll need his hands later?" Tiny slapped him. " _Outch!_  Okay I probably deserve that."  
Someone called Sinas name from afar. " _Don't you dare leaving me with him!_ ", Maui barked pleading.   
"Why not? He likes you." , Sina grinned at her son, who let go of Maui's hair to sit down wobbly.   
" ...  _Good to know?_ ", he didn't know what else to answer and watched the kid with a firm expression, while tying his hair to a bun. He probably should've done that before.   
Sina watched his oddly paralyzed behavior a while and fished her son from his leg. Maui pulled his leg away, like the kid could be ill or something. Kaiko didn't like that at all and started whining. "What's the matter with you?", she asked and tugged her son back in his straps against his will. Cruel world.  
"Hm?", Maui pressed his lips shut and shuddered that sticky feeling from his shoulders, like he didn't know what she was talking about.  
"You act like you're afraid of him."   
"I'm. Not.  _Afraid._  of a poopy-monster!", the Demi-God made clear and pointed at her, pulling his finger away after Kaikos attend to touch him.  
"Stop that! - Isn't it long past his bedtime?"  
  
"You want to tug him in?", Sina mocked him and got up, while Kaiko kicked the air pouting and planned his next attend to show the Demi-God hes worthy.   
"Do I look like the sandman!?" Maui snapped.   
Sina let this question stand for a while and observed him further, then tilted her head. " ...  _Well_  ... "   
"Wait. Don't answer.", he raised his hand in defeat. Tui called for Sina a second time from his spot, waving at her.  
"Yup! You better hurry or I'll  _eat 'ya kid._ " , he jabbed at Tuis overdone protectiveness and earned a scolding half-grin, before she set off. Happy to be freed from this vicious attack, he blew his cheeks and relaxed again. A nice looking girl came by, offering him something to drink and thats when the drummers started playing.  
Everybody went quiet.  
  
The carpets lifted and revealed the young chieftess, stalking to the beat into their mids. Like an unworldly creature of red and gold. The Demi-Gods heart skipped a beat and eyed Moana from head to toe. She wore a crown made of rare flowers - which were tapu - and swam in a small ocean of long, wooden curls. The skin over her lids and bridge was painted in a dark red and made her wide eyed gaze look more exotic than he ever could have dreamed of. A bright colored flower chain was wrapped around her neck, embraced her copper shoulders and was long enough to fall down her tight chest, over her toned belly. Further down he saw a light, red tapa skirt, hanging low enough to show her hip-line. Ashamed he looked away for having admired her like a hungry dog. Her beauty though tore his eyes back to her dance. Her movement wasn't gentle like waves or soothing. They were drastic, fast and send a shiver down his spine. Long curls flew around as she turned, told a story with her hands down her lines. Maui wouldn't allow himself to follow them and a harsh notion hit him right in the stomach. Maui sucked the air in, filling his lungs to the fullest and forgot to exhale, his eyes growing bigger and bigger.  _By the gods, this is a fertility dance!_  his mind screamed at him. It wasn't just a fertility dance. It was  _Hers!_  It was all so clear to him now, why Moana hadn't wanted him here! Why the young men looked at him all jealous. They thought he'd have something to say in this! ... Well, he is a Demi-God after all. If he didn't like what he saw he could always give a hint. He threw a judging look to Mrs. Curly and very slowly tilted his head at her. " _youu, sneaky, little .._ ". Sina just waved at him in a friendly notion and pointed to Moana again.   
  
The rules were easy to understand.   
Once the daughter of the chief came of age and would settle in a new land, she had to chose a groom, bride, prisoner -  _whatever_. First she'd shake her in front of young men, feeling every inch of her body - Moana circled her hips and leaned back with elegantly waving arms, he swallowed hard - then the suitors  _who even dared to look at her!_ , would perform their own dance in order to gain her attention. Even if he wanted to, he could not maintain the smug grin he had put on earlier - flying, silky hair being thrown around, her mesmorizing quivers send a hot shivers down his belly - he made himself look away. The more he had to watch her, the less he felt comfortable in his tapa gown as it pulsed below and he chewed on his lip. What would come after would either rip his patience apart to end all this fiasco or leave him alone in the dark praying to the gods while picturing her. Or both. His heart beat heavy in his chest now, as Moana bent down in limbo. The dance had such an effect on the rest of the man too, how they almost drooled, undressing her with their filthy eyes. Maui darted dark, warning looks at them, but they didn't mind him - nor saw him sitting in the shadows. The most imortant part was the coronel adoring her neck. If it was ripped apart, the gods showed their resentment and the party would be over.  
  
  
Moana didn't look into their faces, she had blended every person out, like feeling completely alone with the fires and rush residing in her blood. Everything her wild movements had symbolized she had felt oozing through her veins, reaching down to a place she never had considered important, even worth mentioning. Now it took control over her gleaming body, bold raising chest and found her looking into the young mens faces fixed on her every movement. She knew all of them since she was a child. Some always had hit on her, some bold, but never as effectively as Maui. Others had been gentle, nice, but somekind of boring after she had felt how a spicy relationship could taste. These men were her friends in many variations, but not even her old crush sitting among them could feed the flame inside her. Moana spun around and strechted her arms high up in the air, straightened her chest to show her elegant waistline, circling her hands above. The lock wrapped around her finger sang a little tune of betrayal when she thought about having to marry a friend, while a great portion of her heart and soul already belonged to another.   
  
Blank faced she finished her last steps, flying curls and her palms stroking down her hips. It was good Maui didn't show up. She wouldn't have been brave enough looking at him while she had to choose a man she didn't felt anything fast the shoreline for. Or was it rather that all her inner voices urged her only to see him in the crowd? Her eyes flickered as the pure thought spread its wings like a hawk and it seemed like she could feel his eyes on her. Seeing her throw her young body for other men to observe. Her dance was done, but not the act. Moana stepped lightly aside, aware of every inch of her body, and still good to see. Rythmic jerking her hips to the drums, facing the men and waiting for the first to dare suiting her.  
  
"Pick Me!"  
  
A small shadow jumped right in front of her with streaded arms and a kissy face. The boy was about 12 now and still trying to hit on her. Laughing the people witnessed his mother pulling him by the ears away. Moana threw her parents an out-weirded look and they only shrugged at it. So, the first was a bummer. The second brave man rose and dragged a long dancing shadow behind him. It was Kekoa, one of the strongest. He had flames tattooed over his arms and chest. With his twenty-five years he still kept some boldness of his youth in his gaze, as he bathed in well wishes and locked his eyes on her. He was handsome and brave, but cold and not the wisest. Kekoa pointed at her and started dancing wildly to the drums, while she stayed and watched.   
  
Maui scoffed and spit out a peach pit into the shadows. A snake had resided crawling in the back of his head, yet he didn't feel any threat coming from this  _half-baked potatoe!_  Please! That guy wasn't even listening to the drums and only fixed his smearing, oily eyes down her body. He grunted watching this performance.  
  
"Look at _this_  guy!", he giggled at Tiny and watched the man jerking his legs and arms in order to croon her.  
" _Is he serious?_ ", he wheezed looking to Tiny again, supressing a high giggle.  
"All Like  _'Ouh, lobster on ma' butt!'_   ... If he thinks Moana is falling for that .. "  
  
Maui shook his head very amused by this poor attend to woo his chieftess and took a look in her face. Still blank, and beautiful. The borders of her silky skin gleaming in the torchlight. His mortal instincts just had loosen its tenseness, so better not staring for too long and he trailed off to other things to distract himself. Other girls, they giggled once he looked over to them, he grinned and wiggled his brows.  _No! Wrong side!_  That would only make it worse.  _That old guy, who still smelled like chicken?_  The old lady next to him, maybe his old wive. The geezer locked her eyes with him and grinned flirty. Only one tooth. _Ewks._  That was enough to stare at Moana naked for weeks without flinching so he poured himself another cup - getting too drunk wasn't very wise, but. ... How could he survive this evening otherwise? Watching something precious he couldn't hold in his life being snatched away infront of his eyes. Who else wouldn't do the same?   
  
One by one the men, some he knew by name and some he wanted to forget names of, tried, danced and impressed the crowd. But not the Demi-God. He had found that the little shows each of them were performing were nice, but fruitless he could tell. By the look of Moanas eyes, while they started dancing in a group, he'd loved to know what she was thinking about. She was probably keeping a straight face, while all of her insides was laughing at the poor boys. Like they could keep up with everything he represented and they knew it! That was probably the thought behind their worried faces earlier.  
  
All she could feel was a chillfull mind, while the heart had beaten itself unconcious and she blurred her sight, until she only saw shadows. It didn't feel any different to before. Wishful eyes had looked at her, as the men - even Aheahe had stepped foreward - had tried their best, but all she felt looking at them was fog. Like swallowing the path before her in shady scemes, blocking out all stars. Her right hand twitched, but she kept stepping to the beat, shaking her hips until the music suddenly stopped. Sweat ran down her temples.  _Bang._ It was time.  _Bang._ The one who she'd choose tonight would sit with her family.  _Bang._ At her side.   
  
Maui crouched over his lab with very dark eyes.  
His knuckles dug deep into his cheek, supporting his head. "... No way she's gonna pick one of  _these_  ... ", he growled between two peaches and washed them down by emptying his cup. When Moana took a hesitant step toward the men, holding the coronel in both hands, the Demi-God froze.  
  
The young chieftess had her head held up, looking into each of the 15 faces - 16, the boy tried again jumping in her way "I'm your man!". She eyed him slowly blinking, a small grin, before his mom came again to pat his backside back into the audience. Little giggles and laughter died quickly, when she continued. Every step grew harder to take, like trying to run through deep streams. The young men fixed their gazes on her very movements.  _Bang._  She had round about four weeks til fullmoon.  _Bang._ Did she really had to choose one tonight?  _Bang._ Moana couldn't see. The call had been so clear, but now all she saw were shadowy pillars infront of her, devouring all the light. A fast darkness that would wait at the end, if she kept playing along.  _Bang. She did._ The untouched woman stood before Aheahe, whos whole face was blushing and excitedly eyeing the coronel.

  
  
The cup in Maui's hand cracked and small pieces mottled the tapa, while he watched her considering this _lax image of a_   - the green-eyed snakes bite made him too mad. He'd think of a fitting insult later, while puggin the shell in his palm to fine sand and pictured his head while doing so.  _C'mon, Curly. That guy?!_ Aheahe wasn't ugly, but not the best looking. He had a little snout pointing to the sky like a pig and his eyes layd a bit too close to each other and a chin-beard made his lower lip look bigger. He was athletic, kind and modest, how Moana would describe him. The most boring guy he ever had come to know.  _Naah! She won't give him the no-no-flowers!_ , he hoped to ease the sting in his guts. She clearly was just wasting time, so the drummers grew tired and everyone could go and leave him with the food.  
  
All her life the song of old had been passed over to her by her parents, to find happyness where she was. She had believed it at some point and had wanted to be who she was born to be. She had guided them over a vast and unforgiving sea, through storm and fog. Into the new land. She had accomplished all of those goals and now that she knew how they tasted like - completely different than she had dreamed of - all she felt was a deep silence like slowly acknowledging how powerless she was. It felt like wilting. She had tasted freedom, hunting down the horizon. She had sailed with the gods! Then she saw _his_  eyes peek out of the void.  
  
He had watched her. Skipping a heartbeat the shock over his sudden appearance made the time stand still.  
Flowing like a stream, washing the abyss aside. She could see him clear, like a bright star and he held her on the spot. Her senses called his name.  _Maui'a'taranga._  Moanas breath shuddered her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. Her hands cramped as she felt her being pushed back by a force she could not touch.  _This was not right._  Apologizing she looked up at the man, who had found trails of turmoil in her face, and backed away from him, lowering the flowers. Aheahe huffed quietly, but padded her arm reasuring she had done no harm and sat down in the crowd.  
  
Sina had watched her daughters steps closely. She knew Moana had to consider  _every_  option among her people. That counted Maui in! Moana had greeted and thanked him with the traditional  _honi_  infront of many witnesses and she was sure thats why he kept around. He just wasn't aware of it yet. All her visits and introducing him with the feeling of belonging somewhere was something she knew he needed to see and feel. She had tried to show him that there could be happyness for him, if he'd just slow down a bit to look more closely. Even though it was painfull to watch both of their struggles, she had intensionly invited him. Moana had needed to see him among all the other possible suitors and the result was just as Sina had expected.  
  
She couldn't do it.  
Many men were interessted in her and she knew her daughter took every one of them seriously. Still Moana didn't move, pinned down by her own desires. The mother of two remembered very much that feeling of being thrown around by feelings. Tui's father hadn't liked her in the past very much. Had said she was too soft to support his son. Slowly Sina leered up to her husband who also had realized the strange notion controling his daughter. His father had been so very wrong. Tui didn't look happy, more like a mean spirited bull. Aheahe wouldn't have been a bad choice and the shape-shifter had to intervene again! He threw a judgeing look to his wife for smiling about it and got a baby pressed into his face. " _Slobby-Kiss!_ ", Sina warbled sweetly, blocking his anger with his son.   
  
Moana lost her tracks, where she had been standing before.  
Distracted she paced around the other men, when the drummers continued the hasty rythims. She didn't dare to cross his eyes, afraid he might hypnotize her again. Her left outer palm tingled and the wind played with her curls.  _Wind._  Feeling it on her skin after the skies had been so empty soothed her mind a bit, like gently stroking her cheeks. For a short moment she could finally think straight and lifted her chin.  _Focus on the task at hand. Just one coronel and everyone is happy._ , she thought to herself and locked eyes with a young fisher named Vaiano. Moana made one step and felt the flowers being pulled back gently. Her people held their breaths, some moaned startled. If the flower chain tore, the festivity was over. Moana turned to see Maui sit upright, his big palm wrapped around the coronel, pulling her closer. Closer, until she felt their fingers touch slightly. She couldn't fight it, she couldn't let go, as he locked his eyes with her and a wide challenging snarl formed on his mouth. He dared her to choose another over  _him_  -  _Maui_ , _Demi-God of the wind and sea_  - again! Looking into his eyes, spikes of pure disapprovement shot through her mind. What she felt was his jealousy like a hissing monster. Pain danced over her features as she stood between letting go and ending what she had started. The gods were watching as the soft flowers were squished between their hands and mixed a sweet smell into the bitterness. It wasn't forbidden to intervene or jump up, but touching what was tapu, ripping it apart on purpose?  
  
"Maui, please. ... ", she whispered hushly and with watering eyes. _Leash._  Now she understood.  
How everything had pushed her toward him since he had made his promise of not losing her ever again. She was favored by him, to say the least. She was _his_ and after everything he had risked, he couldn't let go of her. He wouldn't.   
  
Tui had wanted to rise from the spot, but a memory too bright for him to forget stopped him. He remembered it clear as day, when a young and beautiful Sina had her second dance. His father had forbidden him to suit her, but he, in his stubborness had waited among the people to snatch the coronel of the woman he loved. Tui saw himself crouching there, stopping Sina from doing a huge mistake. "Do you remember?", Sina asked him softly from his side, while rocking Kaiko to sleep. That woman did see everything around her. Tui sighed deeply and shook his head. Fear let go of his mind, as he watched how Moana gently pulled the flower chain out of the hulks loosen palms.  
  
A few petals hovered to the ground. That huge, bold man - this rough _thief!_ \- with the strength to tear their world apart and anger the gods, was kneeing infront of his daughter, like she was worth putting away all pride. Tui didn't like him. His behavior how he treated him with disrespect and played pranks on his people, even his voice made him tense at times. But the Demi-God had been changed the moment Moana had stepped into his life. Maui loved her. Worse, he drove her to become herself.  
Tui could see that now, but was that enough?  
  
  
\--------------------  
  
A single petal residing in his strong hand was the only thing he had wanted keep of that moment. The rift in his heart was still throbbing, as he had to watch Moana for the rest of the night using three coronels. He shouldn't have let go. He should've ripped it apart on the spot to show how pissed the gods were for keeping them apart. As tears had formed in her sparkling spheres, pleading him to let her go, the green-eyed monster in his neck had grown something like empathy. So he had let her go and had disappeared in a short thunder-like light, after touching his hook. His heavy steps had left a deep trail along the beach, that would look like a childrens drawing from the air. Pissed the  _hero_  kicked a rock out of his way, which grew four flippers mid air and bolted into the ocean. He stood panting, his long black hair dangling around. Feverishly touched by a snakes venom he mumbled random curses.  
  
"Stupid miss tapu-curly, all  _'Ew, only look, dun' touch!'_  -" he squaked mimicing Moana, acting like a venus. "-should've stayed on that filthy bunch of pebbles-", he added growling and grimacing. "But  _Nooo_ , Had to shake in and befriend a  _little girl!_ " He dug his fingers into his mane to make his head stop showing him when it had all started.  
  
Maui gnarled loudly.  
Her voice in the night sky, had been carried by his life long companion -  _the Wind_  - right into his heart. Her song of hope and who she was. Reminding him who  _he_  was and what his name should mean to humanity.  _Hero._  Moana had reminded him. She had set foot in his story, changing his world. Was she even aware of the power she had over him by now? The love of a god was deep, fierce and dangerous. If someone overstepped a line, hurt her -  _a single human being_  - only one drop too much, could bring him to lose control again. People got hurt, cursed because of his rage. Yet he had felt the wind whisper  _her true name_  the moment his wings had come back to him and it had radiated his mind. He knew who she was. Had been.  
  
Maui frowned and pressed his fists in his hips, his lips pressed shut. Like having swallowed a ball of cotton fibres, wich wrapped around his brain now, he tried to sort the strings. He was too far gone to leave her now like the cold-hearted bastard he once had been. He couldn't make the bond he had lied upon both of them undone.  
" _Idiot!_ ", he scolded himself, shaking his hair and lowered his eyes down on the small, lax petal he couldn't let go of.   
  
Tiny and Mo still sat there, feeding snacks to each other whilke watching him stomp in circles and slowly loosing his mind. It was this stupid curse, silently tugging the trees and stumbs in a white blanket. It had ripped the most important memory of Ro'e and her story from him. The moment he had forgotten that the fog would rip a hole in his mind, he hadn't been able to tell Moana. It had come back to him the last time he had soared high and had clashed down at this moldy worm. She was destroying his life - all lives -  bit by bit and he couldn't stop her alone. He needed help. The only one he could trust. The one fearless enough to face down monsters and the strength to weald a spear so hard until the pole is breaking. He could see her. Right infront of him. Everything she could be and was, following his wings.  
  
" ... She's not ready yet." , Maui snarled, nervously tapping with his foot. Moana had fallen into a hole, he could tell. He had felt it. That void she had stumbled in, since the eel had shown her how weak and powerless she was. Except she wasn't. Her and his story were tightly intwined. She could be so much more! But he couldn't just tell her. Moana had to feel the power she held hidden from herself all on her own. All he could do was point her to the right direction. That would be much more difficult with the  _teen-angst_  in her neck. Tiny stood to get more snacks, while Momo stayed with Maui and smiling happily at him. Then she pointed up to the night sky. A shooting star blinked.  
"Hm. ... 'ya dancin' in dreams, huh ... ? ", he mumbled softly and padded his chest. " ..  _Good gurl._ "     
  
It padding slowed down as he widened his eyes and sucked in a breath.  
"That's it!", he barked and slapped his arm laughing. " _ **Whiti te ra!**_ Mr. mighty's gettin' pretty  _smart-ass_  here! .. Thank you, miss Momo.", he did a small bow for tiny Moana, who lifted a thumb. He knew how he could help her. First he had to free her from her insomnia - he would have to do a lot explaining on the way though - then he'd harden her and reassure her of her self-confidence. Shape her in battle. Wasn't this bubbles intensions all along, bringing them together after all this time? ... It was worth a shot.  
  
About this other problem with Baku, Ioka and Mikala - these filthy sticks in the mud - he had a lot to plan.  
" _Hr hr._ ", Maui grinned viciously, licking his lip and let go of the petal.  
It was carried far away by the breeze. 

  
...

...

...

  
  
Far. Where it danced down into the shadows and hovered a while over the cheek of a drained face.   
Far away she dreamed.  _Past the veils, past the fog, black branches and shadows of the past, now and days to come reaching her deep below the earth._  Her left twitched. Her body jerked.  _Deep Into a well. Wide eyes staring at her. A river of hair like spidewebs. A maw, voices whispering viciously in the shade. Glowing spheres in the dark, slender sneaking, black skin, white fangs like bone._  
  
  
Her eyes shot open, the gentle torches tearing at her pupils and drew a fast, greedy breath. White pain shot through her whole body, mind - dizzy. A bitter and sharp taste in her throat made her retch. Agony, she wheezed moaning, her stomach turned as someone called a name and gentle cool hands were put on her shoulders. _Who?! Where?!_  
  
"Iida!"  
  
The sound was familiar, lured her to look. Pain wouldn't let her remember. Her vision went back a fast tunnel. Dark, sorrowfull eyes reached out for her. A drop of water on her forearm. "Iida! It's okay! You're  _okay!_  I'm here.", she knew her soft face. It reminded her of a place she'd consider home." _Aoki!_ ", she flung her long, wooden curls calling for help." _Aoki! Come!_  She's back!"  
  
The buff one coughed, her limbs numb, her skin burned and a tearing up her right shoulder. It pierced her mind like spears and made her want to scream, but weakness choked her. The young woman whos eyes were painted in blood put a tender and cooling hand on her burning forehead.  
  
" _.. oh, you're burning up ..._ ", she hushed deeply worried. "Stay calm! ... ", she took her hand and squeezed it.  
" .. You'll be okay. Everything is going to be okay." Tears rolled down her cheeks.  
  
Why? ...  
Her name. Was. ...    
  
_Moana._  
Iidas eyes turned ferociously touched by a dark sceme and her left shot to her chieftess' arm, pulling her ear close. The strength in her grip was unwordly tight and her words were rough, low and hard to understand. But Moana heard four words clear enough to make sense of it. ".. ...  _ **g**_ _o_  ..  _d_ e _e_ p ... _ **t**_ h _e_. w _e_ ll. " And she sank back into the pillow, wheezing and moaning. Aoki finally made it into the hut and rushed to tend to the poor woman.   
  
_Go deep into the well?_  
  
What well?   
_"Deep."_  
That morning. Had she been awake after all back then, trying to tell her something? Moana didn't think she'd find out anytime soon. She didn't want to either. She felt like being lifted into the air after a huge ballast was thrown off her back. Iidas condition had been crucial and Moana had feared the death of a dear friend on her hands would've crushed her. Now everything would be alright. Maui surely would leave now after she had rejected him infront of everybody. Now, without her, he could be Maui again. Flying wherever his wings took him. Free from the shackles she had forced upon both of them. And she? She'd tend to her people, her brother and the children she'll give birth to. Most importantly to her right at this moment was her loyal friend. Iida, the brave huntress, who overcame her fears many times, was alive and would live a story worth telling at the campfires. She'd be immortal. Moana wanted to make sure of that.

 

 

 


	19. Ane'i a aia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ane'i a aia" means 'here and there' 
> 
> Yeah it's another light bonding and plot  
> next one will be more fluffy ;D

Tui leaned against the very post Maui had repaired and watched his daughter from afar. He was certain he had done nothing wrong and still had a severe opinion about the Demi-God. Mauis attend to end the ceremony had been an affont to the gods and his people. The memory that had returned to him that night wouldn't leave him alone though. Moana had fought so hard not to let go of the coronel, though Tui knew she had wanted to. Their feelings toward each other seemed to be deep and strong, like the roots of an old tree. Strong enough to drive them out of place and risk insulting the gods. The chief had done so in the past for his love. The look on their faces when Maui had opened his palm shoved his mind toward one question. Why did they fight it? Even the stubborn child he had raised wouldn't be stubborn and argue, like she usually would once she wanted something. But she had rejected him and Maui had swallowed it. It was clear to the chief that he only knew half of their story. He hadn't been there when Moana had delivered the Demi-God to Te Fiti and how they had grown so close.    
  
His daughter, wrapped up in responsibility for her people, had chosen three young men and none had such a strong chemistry to her than Maui. What he had observed nights before had turned his thoughts to a mushy paste, that tasted like guilt. All her life he had tried to slow her down, so she wouldn't fall. He had feared she might have been as rash to find a husband as to find her way past the reef. He had been wrong. Mens bragging had been usually ignored by her and despite her little crush when she was thirteen, she had rarely talked about boys. For some time he thought Moana was a rare girl, like Iida. But no. She just hadn't been interessted in romance. Until she had met this brute - once thought Tui frowned at himself. Her stories about Maui hadn't found an end at first, then she had shown only wishfulness seeing him again. Tui saw how Baku, number one of her chosen suiters, approached her almost running to present her proudly the young shark he just had caught. Moana forced a smile and seemed like she rather wanted to dip her head under water than to listen to Baku.  
  
She did really try, but he could see her attention wandering off from time to time. Tui shook his head. Moana had been different since they had vanquished that hiddious beast. Or was it since she tried to ban the one man she had feelings for out of her mind. Chief Tui sighed. Maybe - just maybe - he had been wrong to look at him as an intruder. So often he had wanted to stuff his swaggering maw with dry sand, but this instinct hadn't been tingling his neck lately. Now something more mean was biting him. The young woman standing there, acting all interessted, seemed far and estranged. He couldn't see his little girl anymore, with those big wonderous eyes, staring at the horizon. Like Iida in her fate had grown secluded, Moanas gaze was somewhat empty. And it would be replaced with either anger, annoyance or laughter, whenever Maui interacted with her. Tui growled and rubbed his neck, while Moana trailed off, Baku still on her heels like an affectionate puppy. One part of him - the overly concerned father instincts - still wouldn't let him accept the fact. His daughter had fallen in love with a demi-god. He wasn't sure what it ment for the future of his people. For  _her_  future. Tui huffed again, as Moanas growling reached his ears. Finally she had accepted Bakus precious gift and was holding the dead animal by its tail. Moanas fake smile was the last drop to spoil his patience and Tui stomped off towards them. 

"If you like I could cook it for you!", Baku offered eager to find any sign of delight in her face. "My grandfather left me his old recepies. Very good spieces! You'll love it!"   
Moana pressed her lips to a thin line and blinked up to the man, not sure how to say no without hurting his feelings. He had been nice all day, but clingy and he had tried to fill the silence with none stop talking. The chieftess drew breath and opened her mouth to respond, but ...   
"You know, the secret lies in how long you let the meat suck in the spieces. Best wrap it up in leafes and bury it over night. It makes the meat  _so soft_  you wouldn't believe it!"  
" Uuh- ", that was all she could respond.  
"If you wanna be sure to make it perfect you also may wait next to it and dig it out after exact five hours! N-not that I did that. I just-"  
  
Thanks to her inner call that sang a soft tune about frustration, anger and sighs her mind left him blabbering again. Moanas day had started after only three hours of sleep and her nightmares had her mind in a constant grasp. It was a heavy lumb pressing on her chest from the inside and making her passive, dull even. Like lash banana leafes scattered around on the ocean surface. Where should she go, where did she come from, wasn't present to her like it used to.  
  
"You know?", Moana interrupted him suddenly in the middle of an amazing story how one can hear the meat working while frying it in the fire. "All that sounds ... Great!"  
Baku shut up a moment that Moana thanked the gods for having some air to breathe. She needed it to find a way to get rit of him. "In fact, It sounds too special that I don't think  .. Uhh.. I should be the only one to taste this ... great meal!"   
 "What .. Erm. What do you mean?"  
Her eyes were as wide as the moon, as Moana saw how Baku grew a bit suspicious. Moana swallowed, trying to form her escape plan into words.  
"Well. .. I think..  maybe you can serve it at the feast instead, so we could eat it together?"  
  
Almost she had forgotten to smile at him broadly and she prayed to the god of holy excuses he didn't smell her hidden reject. Speaking of such, she wondered what Maui was doing. The wind ruffling her curls tossed her mind far away. All her hair stood up, she felt like flying, falling. A curious sensation crossed her mind, like someone had spotted an observer and shortly after she was shoved away. Shut out. Moanas face hardened, like being expelled from a feast, but she wasn't sure if she was the true owner of those feelings. It had slowly cracked the proud shell around her heart when she had denied and ignored him for the rest of the celebration. The slandered look on his face, when he had let go still held her grounded. Pulled to lay down in the soil, where she belonged, while he would soar in the skies, where he belonged. Far away from a little chieftess' notions. Free from chains. The young chieftess let her eyes see another face than Bakus chubby cheeks. She recognized this harsh lines, those broad shoulders and heavy steps, but she looked through him. The grey sound ringing in her heart was too loud to focus on her father.   
  
"Chief Tui!", alarmed Baku jumped a step back from his -he wished!- soon to be wife and bolstered his plump body.    
"I hate to interupt your chat, but I need to have a word with my daughter.", Tuis said firmly and placed the small shark back into the fishers hands. "Here, do your best at the fires. The gods will appreciate a good nurishment after the last incidence." Baku nodded in devotion and was gone. Both waited until he was out of ear shot and the sudden quietness woke a thankful smile on her lips.   
  
"Quite in time I guess?", he chuckled shortly.   
"I guess."  
  
Moanas tongue repeated on its own what she just heard. She assumed another speech would come next. Maybe he would tell her how proud he was with her chosen suiters or how she had handled the  _shape-shifter_. By running away and doing nothing, hiding behind tapu. Her right itched, like someone fumbling in the dark, and she tightened her palm. If her father would spot her tattoo ... Actually, nothing would change. She already had taken care of these consequences, by giving up. What would've been the point even bothering. Her life already was full of people who loved and valued her. Her friend was getting stronger every day, her little brother was healthy and soon she'd lead her people into a new generation. She'd be satisfied. She'd love her family, even if she'd live in the dark while streams were pulling at her ancles, forcing her to go. Worried her father layed a hand on her back to walk with him.  
  
" .. and here I thought you just wanted to save me." Moana huffed.   
"All I do is for your safety.", Tui stated smiling.   
_Who would've guessed?_  , she thought and hung her shoulders, laxing her arms.  
"But I also need to advice you to-"   
_Heeere we go._ , Moana rolled her eyes only in her mind.   
"- reconsider your choices."   
  
Wide eyed her head denied how Tui just finished his sentence. She wasn't able to figure out what he could possibly mean. Thin-lined lips, she stared at him like a child spotting a honey-snack. She blinked once. " _What?_ ", and returned to her staring. 

  
  
"Moana, I'm very proud of how serious you take all the responsibilities.", Tui sighed deeply, but in a stern tone.  
"But don't you think you push yourself too hard?"   
  
Where is nothing but pressure and emptyness, anger would rise easily. Moana glared at him, tighteing her jaw.  
"I'm not pushing myself. This is how it should be.", she closed and intended to end the conversation before she'd lose control over her manners. Her fathers tight grip prevented her from leaving and he spun her around again.   
  
"Don't you run away from me! I'm not finished yet.", Tui scolded her rudeness, but when he saw in her tired face he softened his words.  
"This dance was the least you wanted to talk about, and now three chosen suiters in one night? And before you hiss at me again!- ", he cut her off shortly.  
"I know why you did it, understand? ... But, come on Moana, you must see this is not the best way to solve this."  
Moana freed her arm and darted her eyes at him. " _What other way is there?_ ", she hissed at him. "I denied him like you and the elders wanted, I hurt his  _stupid_  pride, so he'd be free of me and so you could be proud of your daughter again! This- ".  
  
"-  _Is not my daughter!_ ", her father hurled the interruption at her like a crashing down boulder.    
  
Moana wheezed through grinted teeth and gazed up to him, like startled by thunder. She had tried so hard to keep up a smile from time to time, but apparently it hadn't been enough. Or had it been just harder than before without her content? True, she had felt the deep connection she shared with the Demi-God tore at her self since she had left his side. Her hand started itching and she rubbed her fingers together behind her skirt. An important part - the breathing one - had been taken from her and her mind sang a map inside her head where to find it. And her father had realized it? Moana couldn't bear the look in his eyes and didn't see how his anger slowly faded away.   
  
"I know you think of me as harsh and I can't blame you for that.", he growled at the silence.  
" ... But even I can't sit by and watch my child punish herself for respecting her role."   
  
It took a while until Moana could filter the gentle meaning behind his snarling. She never had witnessed her father admitting he had ben wrong about something. He had always made his points clear and had clinged to his word. Once said it had been settled and done. The world would rathe come clashing down. The young chieftess dared one peek at his face, like observing a stranger. "What ... What are you saying?", she asked carefully. Her father exhaled deeply like trying to blow out a flame.   
  
Tui didn't want anyone to hear, so together they disappeared inside the main hut. The large hall was empty and the old carpets let in only small beams of light. Flower coronels hung here and there, placed there to decorate the next gathering. Her father stepped towards a fine weaving of the Demi-God like he had never seen it before. Moana frowned and leered at him suspiciously. "Father?"  
  
Tui huffed and rupped his forehead, to gather himself. It took him a big portion of will to turn and look at his grown up daughter.   
"Did I ever tell you that I was supposed to marry someone else?"  
"Not that I can recall, no.", Moana answered curiously tilting her head at him.  
" ... Who- .. No. I mean,  _how_  did you and mom .. ?"   
Her father smiled and a small blush was hidden by the dark shade covering both of them.  "Your mother always has been able to calm me down, ease my rash thinking.", he began his story softly rumbling and chuckled."Even if it ment responding to stupid comments by hitting me with an oar."   
  
The chieftess widened her eyes as she stumbled across those sweet moments she had shared with Maui. To find them in her fathers tale made her wonder if he actually was feeling empathic to him. No, it couldn't be. Not a week ago he had demanded of her to forget her love.   
  
"We had to keep it secret. We snuck away at night, breaking the rules.", a soft blanket of guilt hung in his gaze. "Your grandfather was a good man, but he was never delighted of my closeness to your mother. ... When he found out about us, he was more than angry."   
  
" ... What did he do?", Moana asked after her father made a longer pause to let it sink in.  
"He forbade me to suit her at her dances."  
"And .. You ... " Quite amazed the stared at him. "No.  _You?_  Breaking a  _rule?!_ "  
"Worse, but don't tell anyone.", he growled and turned to the carpet. "I did what  _he_  did at your dance. I got hold on your mothers coronel. ... But it had been  _her_  who had let go of it." She felt his whites resting on her face, when he added. "Why didn't you though?"  
  
Moana huffed depressed. Fate had tricked her once again with its games. Her father wanted to know more about her feelings far too late, so it seemed to her.  
"Because he's  _Maui._ ", she sighed and her eyes trailed up to the dark image which had haunted her many nights and still did at day. "I didn't want to see it at first, but now I know what it means. Maui fought so hard to reshape the world for us and to be who he is. He deserves to keep it all. His spells, his hook, his tattoos and his freedom. It would be cruel to take only one of these things away from him only because ... "   
  
" ... Because you love him. ... ", Tui rumbled hushly and tried to read her expression against the dark.    
  
Moana had not wanted to say it out loud or she had feared it might have shaked her to the core. She shuddered a breath to shake off longing thoughts and memories. Pain made her voice heavy. "I love him for who he is, but ... A god made of flesh is still a god. I have no right to change that."  
  
"He hasn't bothered much to act like one.", Tui mumbled and crossed his arms.  
"Don't you think it's more accurate to say _'A god made of flesh is still made of flesh.'_  ?" The young chieftess eyed him like he just had jumped on all fours barking. The world didn't go down and the sun was still shining. Everyone was still alive, but still her father sounded like he was defending Maui.  
  
"... Are you feeling well?", she whispered worried and rested her right on his cheek to test his temperature.  
"Moana, don't make it any harder for me!", Tui gently put her hand away, holding it. He cleared his throat, realizing he just had shown some of his shame. The young womans resentment melted away when she looked into her fathers warm and truly sorrowfull face. She didn't know what to say. Was the memory how he had fought for the woman he loved strong enough to change his mind about it all?   
  
"All I say is, he is not like _them._ ", Tui pointed above them, to the gods.  
"He is like  _us._ ", and placed his hand on his chest, as if saying he once had been like Maui.  
  
When both his warm palms found her shoulders her eyes started to glitter. His calm voice was comforting like when she was a child waking up after having a bad dream.  
"When you welcomed him as one of us, I coulnd't see what you already knew.", he confessed to her. Overwhelmed by a thick ball of emotions she didn't move as Tui wrapped his arms around her. Moana shuddered and dug her nose deep in her fathers chest. It felt like ages since the last time they had been that close on a mental level. Both needed a moment to gather themselves after they parted. Moana huffed and wiped over her eyes, what her father refused to do out of stubborness. He'd rather chew on a banana that lied in the sand, than show how moved he was. His eyes were gleaming at her.  
  
" ... I wont tell you what to do now. But if you want to ask the elders in counsell to give their blessing, I'll back your word.", and before Moana could respond, he placed a hand on her cheek and added. "Its time for me to stop standing in your way. ... "  
  
  
  
  
\----------------------------  
  
  
  
Moana fumbled at her smallest finger, while sitting on the front porch of the healers hut. Her long hair was covering her whole back like a blanked, shielding her from she sun. She had visited her quite often to calm her strained mind and talk, even if there were no responses coming from out the warm shadows. The sunken figure sitting in the dark almost seemed like a mute statue, while listening to her tales. Moana could not say if she even payed attention to her and she didn't really care. Once Iida had woken, she had spoken not a word since. Even if her loyal friend had been very introverted in the past, her eyes had been always awake, active even. Now she resided here, like a pressed down forest, empty eyed with a distant stare.   
  
"The wind is back and we sent out the first fishing boats. ", Moana said hushly, loud enough for her words to reach inside. "Mikala and the others say the fog is retreating with every day.  _That_  is good.", he raised her brows in hope to convince herself." ... Kaiko is very cheerfull and father finally got past his  _daddy-alarms_. .. Regarding me anyways ... " She sighed and put her arms around her knees, resting her chin. " ... He even talked to me about- ... "  
  
At this point images were flashing before her eyes and made her heart jump. When confessions had been made into gentle words, gestures and love, the harsh reality had ripped them apart. This sinful act that hadn't happened, the promise he had tied around her finger, since then she had felt it for the first time. Not her love for him, rather the light bursting out of his eyes, blinding her soul. Again her touch found her right pinky when it came down on her. His hair, his hook, the beautiful carpet on his skin, it all was part of his Mana. Had he touched her spirit with it somehow? Tied her to him? Normally she would've been furious, she should've been. He, the impertinant hero she wanted to see roaming the skies without limits, had caught her like a moth flying into the light. She could hear it singing and she felt it tear at her senses. Being pushed downstream, to dive to promised new lands, made it hard to swimm across. Right now she was caught in a whirl, hurled around and teased by her desire to stop fighting it, but didn't dare to let the water carry her away.   
   
"!-I can't tell him.", Moana said nervously. "I can't face him again, after what happened. ... I know he's waiting for me, but-"   
  
The young womans voice was heard, but not recognized as present. Similar to the song of a bird nobody pays attention to. Loose, short hair was covering Iidas blank face and jaw, only the tips of her ears stuck out. Pain had made her numb, now there was only silence. Strange images she had no explanation for hovered above her like a dark cloud. She knew those were her memories. She had seen, heard and smelled it all, but now it was like she had just inherited them. 

" ... I know I should talk to him again.", Moana shuddered and twirled around at her hair. "But, Ro'e, She ... I still have nightmares." She swore she could hear her whisper into her ears at night, telling her secrets she didn't want to know and planting images behind her eyes. Gruesome scenarios of what she planed to do to her people if she dared crossing her again. She'd play with them, tease them and crush their hopes before snapping. Just like she tried with Maui and what she managed to do to her friend sitting behind her. The Demi-God himself? He'd perish.  
  
"I ... I fear she's too big for me.", the young woman breathed deeply and ruffled her curls. She had hoped, maybe if she showed her friend how weak she felt she would get any protective reaction. A hand on her shoulder or a silent and reasuring look was missing at this moment and disappointed she turned to the shadow who once had been so strong. The bold, injured woman didn't show any reaction and just kept breathing. The food residing in a bowl since this morning was barely touched.   
  
"Iida.", she whispered and snuck on all fours to her friends side. The eel had ripped her arm right out of the ancle and a small stump was all what was left. A broad, brown spot caulked the bandages and showed a stinking and fast healing process. Moana wished she could say that about her mental state too. Seeing her like this, still shocked by what her dead dignity had left her with, she felt so lost. "I don't know what to do. ... "  
  
Her Fingers twitched when she stopped herself from touching her friends hand.  
"Iida. ...", her tone was hushed to hide her trembling and cautiously she stroke the lax curtain hiding her friends eyes.  "What should I do?"   
The young chieftess swallowed hard, so far aways was the buff womans trance-like gaze. She didn't blink, she didn't flinch, all she did was staring at nothing and awaiting everything. It punched a hole in Moanas inner walls and water dripled in form of small pearls. They fell down on Iidas forearm.   
" _Please, say something._ " , she pleaded huskily and grinted her teeth, not letting go of the last bit of her self-control.   
  
It wasn't the warm water on her skin or Moanas touch, but the gleaming in the corner of her eye that lured her back like to a beacon. Wherever her mind had wandered before, this place was completely different and strangely  _unusual._  The small, beautiful woman crouching next to her wiped her tears away, then froze once she realized her pervious, but serene stare. Gentle hands cupped her face, desperatly searching for something she had lost. "Iida?"  
  
The woman felt her cheeks blush in slight embarrasment and shily she smiled, before blinking away. The chieftess of Motunui had taken care of her so dearly the past days and even if she didn't know why, it moved her. An odd feeling spread across her chest, when the young woman wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close in a tender hug. Iida huffed in pain.  
  
"Oh! Sorry!", Moana flinched away and examined her wide-eyed, while not being sure where to put her hands.  
"Keep breathing.", at least her mouth was still working.    
  
Iida needed heavy breaths to relax her throbbing shoulder, the pain was eating at her mind and she would've went away if not for her visitor. When she had had a stroke, Moana had been already awake - and when Moana had to fight a darkness she could not beat alone, Iida had accompanied her. Watching her. Guiding her and showing her the way. For the first time since she had awoken, her left reached around to touch empty space. Even if she still had time until she had to go on her next voyage, her lungs would not shake off the horror she would face. When she was  _here_ , she was bound to the rules the gods had written in the sky and earth, but when she was  _there_ , she could sense beyond. She could still feel it humming, this call in her blood, she was needed here. Sometime.   
  
Moana pressed her lips shut and gently supported her, while she caught hold of herself. She almost had believed Iida would never be the same again, even talk to her. She had feared she would make her responsible for being left-handed now. A hard fate for a right-handed huntress who used to throw spears with great strength and efficancy. When the pain was bearable enough to keep being quiet, Iidas strained eyes rose in her chieftess' face.   
  
Chief Moana finally could breath again and smiled relieved to see a glance of her old friend flash up in her eyes.   
"How do you feel? Do you need something?  _Are you thirsty?_  ", she chattered and jumped up to her feet, fluffing her  
wild curls across Iidas face. "I fetch you some water! It won't take long!"   
  
The buff one rubbed her itchy nose and watched Moana chase away into the bright sun. Cool wind touched her gleaming cheeks and filled her nose with interessting scents. Sweet, fresh and  _new_. Carefully she straightened her back like a curious child, whos discovering the outer world for the first time. Pain shot right back through her limbs and hissing Iida jerked.  _Keep breathing._  , she thought and did what Moana had adviced her to. Only a few moments later, she shifted her battered body to the left, her hand placed on the ground, and to her knees. The feaver that had stung her system, demanded its toll and made her limbs weak. A limping dog had more grace, as she crawled huffing and wheezing over the floor the hand and one knee at a time. Iidas eyes burned when the sunstreams hit her face. A new breeze carried familiar sounds to her ears. Laughter, birds, the wind playing with the canope and the distant rushing of the waves. A fast blue sky greeted her when she rested panting close to the front porch, where the carpets hung. She saw happy faces of strangers she could refer to each other, but oddly could not recognize. She couldn't remember each of their stories, even if they all were connected. Nonetheless, one was memorizable, like a bright branch of thunder across the night. She could see it. The touch of stars surrounding Moanas every step. Iida nestled her head against the pole and wondered. The chieftess, first wayfinder of her people in sixteen generations, was seemingly trying to avoid the path set before her. Only because she couldn't know that she already had it all in her hands.   
  
Iida knew telling her what she had seen  _there_  would change nothing at all so she kept quiet when Moana came back with half a coconut. Together they sat a while in silence, when Moana remembered something Iida had told her in her sleep. "Iida?", she whispered halting. Her friend made no sound and slowly turned to her with asking eyes, she would need a long time to get used to.  
  
"Do you remember what you told me when you woke?"  
" ... ", she shook her head so slightly it looked like her head was twichting.  _Of course._  , Moana thought bitter and sighed, but how Iidea fixed her eyes on her - so bright, but sorrowfull, like she remembered more than was good for her- she waited if there was something she needed to hear. "Did you hear  _me_?"   
  
Iida's eyes flicked away, to the ground,  _to the puddle of nightsky around Moanas feet_ , to her right hand. " ... Every _time._ ", she answered hoarsly after an eternity like she had to speak in a strange dialect and remind herself of the right notation.  
  
Moana startled under Iidas insecure response. It wasn't like her to be shy or hesitant and the way how she observed the cup in her hand, like she never had felt coconut fur in her hands before. Something wasn't right with her. She wasn't just off, she was  _not herself_! How ever hope had found her face, it now was dripping down and her smile turned into stone. Iidas condition had been crucial for many days that the healers thought she might've been too close to death. Moana though had the feeling that it wasn't all. It looked more like the Eel had taken more from her than she had ever dared to think about. Gramma Tala had told her Ro'e would devour souls. The eel had not only taken Iidas arm and pride away, but had bitten a huge part out of her spirit. Moana frowned and swallowed hard as the water inside boiled and filled the emptyness with her old friend named  _anger_. It just came to her again like a gentle nudge of a butterfly, it wasn't important who was the hurt one. Chief Moana opened her right palm to look upon and stroke her thumb over its borders. Will he know what to do? The rest of her doubt was wiped away when Iida turned her head to fully face her, like she had asked outloud.   
  
" ... You need water and wind to follow the stars."

 

 

 


	20. Da Fada

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Da Fada" means 'the Fall'

Happy to roam free, the wind played with the fast canope. Untouched grounds, tall trees and bright flowers painted an entrancing edile which was draped in a golden, misty shimmer. The hunter Mikala crouched in the green with a thin hunting spear in his fist and one hand placed on the trail a big animal had left. He had followed its tracks for some hours now and was determined to hunt it down. Wasn't like their young chieftess's heart was just a prize one could win, but the three men had been friends since childhood. They had refused to let it raise a grudge between them and tried to see it like a friendly competition. Mikala liked Moana - not enough to call it love though. He always had admired her bravery and confidence and never, _ever_ had believed she'd choose him. She never had shown any interesst in men. ' _Probably wasn't ready then.'_ , he figured and carefully rose on the spot. Sun beams crossed his path as he continued bent over and felt the leafes under his soles to make no loud sounds.   
  
Rustling to his right. He threw his head around.   
What stumbled through the bushes was big and heavy. Grunting sounds sharpened his senses and scrambling tensed his body. Something white was moving inside. The hunter didn't regard it a second and took another step ahead. He raised his spear. The hedge responded by tearing up a huge maw with arrowhead-like teeth. The fearless hunter screamed like a girl, fell backwards, rowing his arms and hurled his spear into the unknown. The large creature towered over him and spoke in a demonic tongue. White was almost all his eyes were and dry leafes, dirt and his dead pride were tossed around as he fled in seconds. The monster, half cat, half shark started crying in guffaw and it shook its whole body that the big paws couldn't hold its weight.  
  
" _Ppffaaaaahahahaha! Didanyoneseethat?!_ ", the shark-heads wheezing giggle almost swallowed its high-pitched sounds. Panting his gills twitched as the shark-head bumped on the ground, patting its flippers on his head. A nearby flock of lemurs found it hilarious too and soon it seemed like the whole jungle was cackling. He kept on howling until his midriff begged for mercy.  
  
" _Ahahahhow-ow -ow- .. Haha! - ow._ ", the shape-shifter panted. He'd treasure this moment, the  _stupid look_  on his visage, and put it right next to Moanas quacking when he had peed on her hand. Spitting out grass he had chewed on, the shape-shifter rolled back on his paws, when Momo pinched him. The little figure had her arm akimbo and shook her head in a scolding way.  
  
"Just one more time,  _please!_ " Maui pleaded like a small kid and smirked. Momo glared, shaking her head at shark-faced Tiny who held his belly and went crying to the ground. " _Shark-Head!_ Still good.", he peeped. 

Maui zapped himself back to human form and wiped over his teary eyes.  
" _So beautiful._ ", he whined, moved how easy it had been to fool this weak excuse of a hunter all day. He didn't know what had Moana been thinking by choosing  _him!_  That guy wasn't even able to get through finishing his tattoos, still a boy so to speak. Maui couldn't imagine Mikala would be able to care for someone like Moana or to handle her temper. Her thick skull and hard swings with the oar. Her quick thinking and witty tongue. The Demi-God was sure the hunter couldn't hold a torch to her. When the lemurs were the only ones left laughing, a bitter taste was left in his throat - he hoped it wasn't poo or something. Mikala wouldn't make her happy. None of them would. Certainly Moana knew it.  _Lolotai_ , even Sina did!  
  
_'Sina.'_ , he thought in returning anger. She, with her motherly softness had lured him into getting his insides ripped apart. Bitten by the green snake, which still dangled around his neck, he had intended to end the ceremony, rip this stupid tapu in pieces! Pride had throbbed painfully against his temples, then he had seen the turmoil in Moanas pleading eyes.  
  
Maui had gifted her his  _mana_ , yet she had caught his soul, wrapped up in her undertow. She had pushed him, teased him with her big spheres and he had lost the fight in the end. He hadn't been able to deny his pounding desires when she had kissed him. And couldn't have done anything but share her pain and losen his hold on the coronel. Moana had thrown him off board infront of most of her people.  _Him! A Demi-God!_  Most girls would break a leg to gain a gods attention. Not  _proud_  chief Moana, though.   
  
It had left a burning ball in his throat he could only endure while taking deep breaths. Nevertheless, once blown into the fire, the flames would only grow stronger. Maui frowned and grinted his teeth, his spirit rolling in embers.  _Foolish human heart._  He wished he just could cut it out and put it in a jaw of dirt, giving it to  _Bubbles_  to take it far, far away. Instead his stupid conscience made him stay and watch the girl, who had turned his life upside down, walk off with  _some pest_  who didn't know what would make her happy. She needed someone challenging. Someone who was eyecandy -  _with perfect hair!_  Maui was all a girl could ever wish for. Why she hadn't come back crawling to him yet and apologizing like a good chiefy, was a question he petulant ignored. It was harder with each passing day. The starmap in his head itched to see other places, yet he would stay and wait for her cheap excuses  _and melodic voice_. The way she curled her lips when she got angry, her clever tongue. He missed her like air under water. ' _Urgh.'_  He was too far gone for comfort.

A short flash lightened the jungles shades and a giant hawk burst into the bright sky. From up here he could see their camp as a lightened spot surrounded by the shady forest. Sharp cliffs drew a black mesh into the green sea he circled above. In the middle of the land, the old vulcano's dark and threatening funnel was yawning at the sky like a crater. A white lake had formed in its vent, making it impossible to look through. An uneasy feeling crawled up his neck and he was certain it wasn't Tiny or Momo. He noticed the fog retreated inland, as if it gathered. The silence before the storm. The more time they wasted, the less they had to prepare for what might lay ahead. Nervously he clattered his beak and stood in the air a moment, flapping his wings. Suddenly a grey flash of longing pierced his soul and made him loose control over his body.  _Moana!_  Paralyzed he felt the wind pressing against his face as he fell. Maui's veines battered like shoving oil through his body and in a despereate act he banned her thoughts, pushed her away. Finally his wings were responding to his will. Strong strokes whirled his feathers when he caught himself before greeting the trees. One meter was between him and a huge, old tree stump. The giant bird whistled, even if he couldn't care less if he had head bumbed the forest. Hawk-Maui cried out once more, this time in anger, and darted off.

Moana needed to get past what had happened to fight Ro'e. Though all his pride and far too shiny selfesteem - what was just painted golden, inside it was copper - threatened him with beating, he understood that this wasn't just about him anymore. Sharp eyes trailed off to their settlement, when he dove lower to land to his isolated residing place. Three large boulders were shielding him from any harsh breeze and he had made himself at home. In the shadow of a sturdy shelter, something long lied wrapped up in bread-tree leafes. Over a hammok, a small fire place and some jaws filled with food he had  _borrowed_  from the people were scattered around. Tools lied tidy in the shadow of the biggest rock where he had spent hours to carve stories into the stone and he still had to figure out where to continue once he had filled out all empty spots. The Demi-God liked keeping his skilled hands busy and not only for fighting. When he had been exiled on this lonely bunch of pebbles he had grown fond of artistic stuff. It helped him meditate - what was something he had to do  _very_  often nowadays.  

"Maui?"

Moanas sudden voice startled a soft, but shrieking high tone out of him and shook the tattoos like an earthquake. Tiny fell off his hill when he flung around to meet her sorrow. Without the others content, both swallowed hard. The young chieftess stood long steps away from him.  _Proudly_ , like her stubborness had fed her a stick to support her spine, she gazed at him. She tried to blurr her sight, receive so few details about him as possible and of course she couldn't resist peeking. His frown intimitated the mindful chosen words she had repeated over and over on her way here. Now they crawled back where they had come to be and left her throat dry. She tightened her fists and tried to remember why she had come here. A part of her wished he'd take the pressure from her to start the conversation. 

Wildly thrashing, his heart went on a rampage, pushing his emotions aside and leaving ugly bruises. His anger was the last one standing and he tore his eyes from her beautiful features in a complacent gesture.  
  
" _I can't believe my eyes!_ ", the snake on his tongue scoffed and he did an overstated bow until his curls touched his feet.  
" _Princess_  Moana of Motunui pays  _little old me_  a visit? What and honor!"   
  
Moana felt a sting pierce her and painted her expression in a hurt frown. Usually her temper would show, but the young chief did nothing to wake it. No witty response followed, no come-back. She just stood there, welcoming the pain and hanging her head in defeat. He hadn't called her _princess_  for a long time now and it would nag her. She was sure he did it on purpose for having rejected him. _'Rightful so.'_  , mistery told her and believing it she waited until he rose.   
  
"How can I serve you today?", overzealously he stood in an open gesture. Everything he spoke tasted like bitter ash. He didn't have to read in her to know he had hit a nerve. In place of her fury, an unbearable self-pity flipped back right in his stomach. Once his worried gaze was blinked away, he panted and awkwardly rubbed his black mane. She didn't even try to bring herself to look up. Her eyes traced along the pattern of the stone beneath her feet, as if she asked the solide earth to open up and swallow her whole. Entwined in her curls, a breeze touched her shape and she couldn't tell what force guided her to step forward.  
  
"... Iida needs your help.", refusing to speak his name, she murmured in a shy manner and only heard him ruffling around.  
"Beach-Boy's awake?", Maui wanted to know and she heard his relieve, followed by his chuckle.   
  
"She is."  
"Told 'ya she'd make it!"  
  
His low cheering tempted a short smile on her lips and her eyes flickered up to him, then she hung her head.  
" ... But something isn't right. ... ", she gloomed over her shoulder and dared another short peek at his reaction.  
"Maybe, because her  _right's missin'._  ", he aimed at her with a hurtful snarl and hit another sore spot. Pain shot right back at him and not only because Momo slapped him on his chest. "Stay out of it, sister.", he growled. Tiny eyed him resentful for having spoken to her like that. "You Too!", came from above.   
" ... Please don't joke about this.", she pleaded with him sadly touched by his spite. "She ...  _Changed_  somehow."   
  
Maui had to think and left her hanging for a moment. Moana definetly was the type to overcome her own struggles to help a friend. If Iida was in a kind of trouble only a hero like him could help with, she'd even come crawling back to him. Knowing she wasn't entirely lost in her crisis, he skipped a relieved huff and raised one eyebrow.  
  
"How?"  
  
The wind turned and pushed in her back, her legs moved towards him. She lifted her lift her chin like something was guiding her.  
Afterall, the curioucity in his features gave her confidence he'd be willing to help and she swallowed.  
  
"I don't know.", frustrated she shrugged nontheless and tried to catch what she had witnessed about Iida.  
" _Everything_  about her."  
  
" ... She's so  _distant_ and ... the way she talks ... ". Moana huffed as her tongue gave up on her and she hung her shoulders.  
"It's hard to explain."  
While his mini-self had wrapped his arms around Momo in comfort, the Demi-God stood crossed-armed to hide his tattoos.  
"Try me.", he growled annoyed by her blind defense.  
  
Sighing the young chieftess rubbed her head. More and more was shaken by the urge to just hug him tight, pleading to take her back. She couldn't concentrate on the task at hand and everything she saw was how bright his eyes gleamed at her.  
  
" She ... She spoke of going _deep somewhere_  and ...  _'follow the stars'_  ... ", sorting her memories Moana hated the stretching silence between them. It tied her feet to the stone. Maui's mood didn't change, yet she knew what he felt was confusion and a threatening alarm tingling his senses. It almost made her bite her tongue.  
" ...  _Please_  come and take a look at her? I ... I fear it's because of ... You know-"    
" _ **Chee-Hoo!**_ "   
  
Moana's sentence was ripped apart by the Demi-God's impatience. With his hook being hurled around, a giant bird seized her with its talons. They left the earth and stone behind so fast the air cooled her skin in an instant. Higher and higher Maui carried a wide eyed woman, who's startled choke stayed on the ground. " _Maui, Letgo!_ " She wheezed, her legs stuggled in the air, as she tried to get hold on his legs.  
  
" _Maui! Please bring me down!"_ , she shouted against the wind pressing on her mouth. A pair of stonehard eyes met hers and he didn't let her catch her breath, as he rose higher with strong beats of his wings, not caring if he shook her breakfast out.    
  
" **What was that?! I didn't hear you!** ", he ferociously yelled back at her and zoned out her whining sounds. This lax creature fidgeting in his grip -this  _shadow_  of the person he loved- was not going take her away from him. Not now, not tomorrow! Maui soared even higher until the island was just a spot beneath them and the air became frosty.  
" _Maui, stop Please!_ " Moana cried out in horror. " _You Scare me! Bring Me Back!_ "  
  
Maui suddenly stood midair with flapping wings and his eyes could've turned a nine-eyed bat into a possum, when he threw her up into the air - her cry was just a hiccup - and caught her with one talon.  
  
" _ **What?!**_ **You don't like being pushed around?** ", he mobbed her and held her up to look into her terrified grimace.  
" **What'cha goin' to do about it,** _ **huh?!**_ "   
  
" _Why are you doing this?!_ ", she lamented trenbling and tears streamed down she didn't called upon. Moana felt his resentment and too scared by what she might find below, she gave up on it.   
  
" _ **Why**_ **did** _ **you do**_ _ **nothin'**_ **to stop me?!** ", he barked at her loudly, ringing in her ears. Moana widened her eyes and stared up to him. The gaze he gave her was rattling her spine with a chill.  _'No, he wouldn't!'_ Her heart jumped.  
" _Maui, Please! No!_ ", panic rose anew in her. Frustrated she tried to get a hold on him. " _I'm Sor-_ "  
  
She stared into his eyes when he let go. Moanas horrified scream faded beneath him and rang in his ears when he watched her fall towards the fast ocean. Her fear tore at his concience like a wild beast, yet he shoved it aside harshly. Maui waited. Waited. ...   
  
Helplessly the young woman couldn't breath to scream the whole way down. She could do nothing! Her judgement hurled around the cold sensation of betrayal that she thought she might shatter. Tears perled over her temples, all she could see was blue and feel a white noise behind her eyes. Small waves grew larger when she couldn't see the horizon  from the corners of her eyes anylonger. Did he say, this is how he wanted to let go? She was set on cold fire, freezing her. ... Under the cracking ice, she found unexpected solitude. 

  
  
Lost in the air, she widened her arms, like greeting an old friend. The ocean did nothing but watch an enormous force preventing her body from hitting the hard surface. At this speed, her body would've been ripped apart by inpact. Moana was hurled around, dangled still shaken in Maui's talons and fearfully she gazed up to him. Maui didn't cross her eyes and had set up a tight wall around his feelings, so nothing could visit or leave.   
  
Flashfire.  
There was no better way to describe what blinded his inner eye. Moana took a wide swing to place a well aimed kick in his stomach. Air was forced out of his bird-lungs and he let go of her the moment they splashed into the blue. Woken by the flash of rage, Moana was the first to emerge. Wildly throwing her soaked curls around and greedy inhaling. All the monsters of Lolotai would crumble in envy if they saw her fury in search for something to destroy. His skull would be a weclomed start. She didn't care what shape he'd use to escape her now. Whale, shark or giant kraken could come at her, yet she'd pay him back for treating her like garbage. Her pride sang and cheered for her, when she felt sharp teeth tugging at her feet. Moana hissed, cursed and kicked him away, before diving after him. She couldn't care less how thick his inner armor was, she'd pierce him eventually and kept on using their connection to shout unspoken curses at him. The great white shark flinched a moment, but a wide simper grimaced its jaw. White light blinded her, then a huge, dark mass rose and a chuckling humm droned in her ears. Like driftwood she was pressed back to catch air. Moana panted and her whole body trembled for what she just had fallen into. Literally. Moana needed a moment to shake off her dizzyness. When she finally dug herself out, she filled her lungs.  
  
" _You. Crazy. Son. Of. A. Filthy. Wh-" ,_ she yelled at him. Whale-Maui blew a spout right into her to wash those dirty words out and chortled low. The chieftess trembled now from the eruption burning inside and wiped over her red head, then she lunged at him." _What's gotten Into You?! Have You Lost your mind?!_  ", she shrieked and slapped his huge, grey skull with a harsh palm. " _What do you think I am?! A plaything to the gods?!_ "  
  
It didn't itch him in the slightest and zapped himself back into human form, leaving her gurgling in curses.  
"Ain't it sinking in yet?!", he cackled once she could hear him. They locked eyes for what felt like an eternity, when Moana hurled curses through tense jaws at him, repeatedly hammering her fists down on his torso. " _You Asshole! "_  
  
Maui couldn't tell if she was crying and watched her red grimaces with a growing sneer. Moana was taken away by sudden emotions swooping down on her like hail. Her right fist was the last that hurled down on him, when she felt his arm wrapp around her waist to press her against him. Chieftess Moana didn't want to know how he felt and she cursed his warmth to be so tempting. Afraid his embrace might burn her to the bone, she faught to free herself embittered and in vain.  
  
" _Let_ _ **Go**_ _of me!_ ", she sobbed in a last attend to flee under his eyes, but her body failed her. There she was, being helpless in his fondle. Moana crocked, rested her head on his skin and pressed her lips shut. She couldn't stop her warm tears from streaming. His stupid ideas and how he had treated her still burned! For everything he dared to do with her and had done to in the past. How he held her close, too close for comfort, braught her back to where it had all started. Moana cursed the glade, cursed the moment she had kissed him, cursed that aweful day for wanting to go back in time and to forget.  
  
" . _.. I hate you. ..._ " , she breathed hoarsly, her nosetip slightly touching his skin. To Maui it was nothing more than a hiss and he just watched her, felt hot air stroking his chest. He had known the true Curly would show when being pushed to the edge. He had let her fall to wake her up and it had worked. "I  _hate_  you.", this time her words were a snarl, blindly thrown. It reached him like being slapped in the guts, when her warm orbs dripped and ran down his collarbone. Mauis smile slowly drowned in her shivering features. Over and over she repeated the lie as if she wanted to pour poison over the world. Maui let her lash out as she pleased, even if it hurt him. He had it coming the moment he had tied her to him.  
  
"I hate you!", she hissed over her hiccuped sobs and wished the salty water would flush the bitterness away.  _Hic._  Angry and hurt, people would say things they didn't mean in their rage and it wasn't any different in this case.  _Hic._  Of course guilt scolded her right after the insult for everytime she said it and she took it like a chief should.  _Hic._ Moana stared down Tiny. The poor, little buddy could've done nothing to stop Maui and sat there with a shocked expression. Momo handed him a cup of soup, but the substance was spilled around by his trembling hands. Momo hugged Tiny, gently rocking him and pointing to Moana, who was still alive, as if saying  _'No worries, see?'_. Seeing Tiny and Momo were looking out for each other, but also for caring about her fate, comforted the soaked woman to a minimun.    
  
" ... I know. ... ", his low answer rumbled and she stared up to him. 

 _Hic._  
Something small and cute started to pop the angry clouds over their heads. Soon Maui grunted amused, chewing on his lip. How dared he? This was not the time for kidding around! Moana was still furious and if her body hadn't failed her so soon she would've - _Hic_ \- she would've beaten his locks straight. Blood pumped back to her cheeks and nose as she tried to keep her - _Hic-_ menacing aura.  It was hard for her anger to stay awake, and for him to keep his toothgap behind his curled-up smirk. She wanted to stay mad at him! She didn't want to fall back into the grey! Blood added another shade of red on her cheeks and nose. Embarrased by how _irony_  had tugged  _anger_  into bed, she blew her nostrils.  
  
" _Stopit!_ " , she slapped him once more, but it lured only a low chuckle out.   
" _Ow!_  M'not Doin' anything!", he defended himself and tilted his head away.  
"- _Hic-_ Stop. Laughing at me!". Moana complained loudly as if it would hit her own, small snigger.   
"I'm  _not_  laughing at you!", he laughed. Not at her rather at the situation the were stuck in. In the middle of the ocean. Alone.   
"Yes. You.  _Are!_ " Moana started pounding on his chest, but not as fiercly as before. "You are the w _orst Distra -Hic- ction_ I've ever encountered in my entire life!"  
"I  _know._ ", he celebrated giggling, very proud of himself for having accomplished that. 

Moana glared up to him, red like a clay pot. She wanted to wipe that stupid, jerky grin away, grab him by the ears - or better,  _by the hair_. She clenged her jaw and squirmed her arms up. "You stupid, overzalous - _Hic_ \- oaf will bring me back this instant or I'll strangle you with your own lo _\- hic-_ cks!", she yapped and her mood was yanked aside by how silly she sounded. 

Maui witnessed his Curly crawling back into the light. Bit by bit she seemed to return and the demi-god was dazed by how beautiful her happy voice was. It eased his battered spirit, made him beam and he waited until she left him a pause. "I'd love to do that.", he lied with a bright sneer - he wanted to stay. Not  _here,_  rather stay left alone with her.  
"But I lost my hook."  
  
The chieftess lost the control over her facial features and two golden moons stared up to him. From here the high waves prevented her from seeing the shores. The thought of having to swim the whole way back rose a new fury.  " _ **AGAIN?!**_ ", Moanas loud rant rose high up into the sky, from where one could see their island being miles away. Maui flinched and duck, afraid of being hit in the skull.  
  
"Just kiddin'!", Maui interrupted her, lifting his hook - which hung like a walking crane over his forearm. Better safe than sorry.   
" _You! STUPID -! Why Would You-_  "   
Then she realized delighted: "Oh! My hiccup is gone."   
"You're welcome!", Maui laughed and warbled at the gentle figure. Moana darted her gold-brown eyes at him, not understanding why it was only him who made her feel anything. She guessed she just had to accept it and once she did, her frown crumbled down under her shivers. Moana pulled herself close to hide the big giggle that formed in her throat, but her sense of humor tickled her flanks. Whiny sounds escaped from her that he worried she started crying again. When Maui feared she was loosing it, he had gone too far afterall, her hole body twitched. She grunted.  
  
"... I've never been so scared in my life!", Moana snickered over how silly she had acted and soon she guffawed out. Hearing her bell-like tunes flooded his nature with warm ease. Maui's eyes watered, like he just found her after an eternity and chuggled. Oh, how he treasured every moment with her, now that she was back. He pressed the husk down so it wouldn't be heard.  "Just wondering why you didn't pee yourself.", he joked.  
  
" _Ew!_  Dork!", she called him and gently slapped her palm over his cheek.   
" _Hic!_ ", he made fun of her hiccup, blocking her vicious attends to take revenge.   
  
Out here, nobody could see their struggles, judge their stories. They were only two fools alone at sea. Surrounded by two shades of blue, their emptiness was filled with a pinch of luck. It made them forget  _what_  they were supposed to be and it played a benign trick on their minds. It wasn't a trick  _who_  they were however. Companions, friends, lovers. And they weren't just one of these things. They were all of them. Having grown deep roots over the past dangers, their bond was strong and true. It was natural, their gentle sin. Both panted their laughter at eachother and locked their hushing eyes. Even if Maui wanted, he could not stop his hand from stroking her curls behind her ear. Hypnotized and blindfolded by carefreeness, the Demi-God leaned in slightly puckering his lips. Serenity in his eyes carried Moana away from all the struggles. She closed in, stretched her neck - when both were smacked by their realization of what was going on and jerked their heads away. Each of them in a different direction. Maui cleared his throat and Moana's chin sank down with a bitter-sweet moan.

\------

Both had won the fight with their secretly shared wish to be left alone together and returned to the island. Maui had shifted into a whale and had brought her back just in time to let the fishers see they had been alone together. What they had done out there was open for their interpretation. Moana ignored them, even as Ioka eyed over with a glance she could not place. Right now she wanted to think about only one thing, to find a way to help Iida.   
  
Demi-God and chieftess stood together and watched in awe how the one-armed woman was faring. That was the point. Iida wasn't the type to just  _fare_! Usually she would work hard and not doing a break once in a while, even if she was hurt. But this shy thing, sitting bent over her lap and doing nothing, but gaze into nothing, was not the huntres they had come to know.  
  
"See?", Moana pointed at Iida's slumbed down features and looked up to her immortal  _friend,_ searching to find a reasuring smile.   
"Yup.", the hero huffed. She had not exaggerated how he had hoped and she had been right to come to him. Maui had seen a similar state only once in his long lifetime. The way Iida sat there, not moving and seemingly not breathing, indicated what made the small hair in his neck stand up. He refused to be completly convinced before he took a closer look at her. 

"Maui?", Moana followed closely and tried to find a hint how he might feel about it all, but he wouldn't let her get through. The parts he didn't want to reveal to her yet were hidden within his mood. It was too soon to put this burden on her shoulders now, so he focused on Iida. She didn't look up to them, when their shadows towered like two fused hills over her and did nothing at all. Like a stone, just observing and witnessing everything and nothing around her.   
  
"Heh! Beach-Boy!", Maui greeted her roughly like he always had done. "How's the shade?"   
Iida blinked, didn't aknowlegde their approach - even if she knew they had been coming.  
"Hello, Maui." , she spoke monotone.   
The Demi-God's brows twitched into the air and glimpsed at Moana.  _'Oh, dear.'_    
Maui had been right all along what had happened, yet he could not explain how Iida was still able to talk, yet alone to  _be_. What had the elders told the kids about Iida? He had listened at some point to figure out why she had been so ... ' _Not-girly_  ...  _Not-womeny?_   _... Not-into-men-ish?_ ', he tried to find the right label. He picked  _different_  in the end, when Moana ellbowed his side. Maui cleared his throat - he had been staring.  
"Youuu ... Feel alright?"  
  
Iida considered his question like it was important to be treated with caution.  
" ... ... ", she took a while. " ... Yes."  
" _Okay-Fine-Bye._ ", The Demi-God turned, picked Moana off the ground and walked fast steps away. He placed the chief on her feet next to a pile of poles, who was eying him annoyed from below. " _Stop doing that infront of everyone, please!_ ", she hissed before she turned to the task at hand with a gasp. "Okay ... What do you think?"  
"I don't see where the problem is! Thought you liked being picked up by the hottest man in .. well ..  _The world._ ", he bragged refreshingly.  
"I'm not talkin' about that! - _I don't, by the way._ \- I meant Iida!"  
Insulted by her middle comment about him being  _not_  the hottest man in the world -Yes, that's what he heard!- he pouted at her.   
"Do you have an explanation?", Moana tried to ignore his lips. His hair. The waving Tiny and Momo, holding hands. To be honest, her eyes landed everywhere, even around to see if someone was watching them, or for possible hiding-spots.   
"More of a theory ... ", was all Maui said and scratched his jaw, then he shook his head. He did not know how he could help Iida and admitting this to Moana would only take more hope away from her. Her joyful nature, her kindness and strength had thrown him off a lonely course and missing her true self was too dire to endure. It had to be protected, even if it ment inviting her to witness his very roots. Tiny crossed his arms in awe while considering Maui's turn of intentions.  
  
There was something important Maui had to tell her, which had been lost to him since he had screwed up his connection of his story. The shape-shifter remembered sitting behind Mr. Curly as a seagull, tapping from one foot to another while Chiefy had had to explore the  _net_  Ro'e had thrown out to catch him. And he had fallen right into her strings, making himself and Moana visible to her. It was his fault the young chieftess and her ...  _Their?_  ... people had come in contact with the fog. He was responsible for Iidas fate and no other. He would not let his old mistakes take the one pair of eyes away, which made him feel at home. Maui wasn't planing on telling her. He would show her, so she could see it with her own eyes. Tonight he'd share his memories with her. The pure thought alone made Tiny jumpy.   
  
"Well?", rang her bright voice in his ears.   
Moana slowly slanted her head at him, after witnessing his facial circus. "Please say you can help her!"   
" _Okay, fine!_  But only because its you who's asking!", Maui laxed his shoulders and frowned at the sky, before he sneered at his chieftess.  
" _You can help her!_ "   
"Stop joking, Maui!", she criticized him somewhat disappointed and janked at his locks, like ringing a bell. Maui grunted and patted her greedy paws away, as if she was stealing a cake. "I'm  _not_  joking.", he grimmed back at her insult while his carefree smile formed into a serious frown. Maui parted his lips, ready to spit out something he might regret, but his tongue held him back. He had to be careful what he told her, so he was capable to lure her interest as well as keep her fears at bay. He took a long pause to gather the most suitable designations for her to pick up advantage. Moana's stubborness tugged at his locks again.   
"I'm listening!", she fluted impatient. Her hand was patted away. She rubbed her prickling hand and murmured.   
" _Stopit."_ , he warned her shortly. "Okay, here's the thing, Chief. You were right-"  
Moana's eyes grew wide like starled prey and her legs twitched, ready to jump for cover. Mostly Maui's overzied ego would only acknowledge him of being  _right._   _'Did he loose his mind too?'_ , she feared breathless and jerked at his locks to test his temper.  _Pat._  " _-stopit! -_ What happened to beach-boy is not of this  _realm_  and I have a  _solution_  ...  _But-_ ", he rose both his strong palms to mark the importance.  _Tug. Pat._  
" _Stopit!_  It is important you follow  _every_  of my instructions and- ", Maui caught her hand and pulled her close to his bugged glaring.  
" _Stop._  - ... And to  _trust_  me. Otherwise we'll get into  _more_  trouble."  

\-------------------------

Moana was glad there was no doubting voice in her head, since she had agreed to his vague and odd terms.  _" ... and skip supper!"_ , he had closed, after they had set the  _when and where._  He had disappeared into the forest and she had followed her role. The young chief had kept their meeting to herself and as the night had tugged her people to sleep, she had disappeared. A small campfire was crackling between her and the Demi-God. Their crosslegged poses were enlightened by hushed embers and painted a golden blush on their skin. Moana was not as overtaken by his secrecy as she used to and waited for him to speak. " ... Did you eat something this evening?" The shape-shitfer asked and looked into her mesmerized eyes. A blush shoved his attention to his left hand, when Moana's whites narrowed in suspicion. Of course she had. Moana hadn't known if she needed all her strength for what they were about to face and had dismissed his last line as spupid jab at her weight. 

"No?", she lied and sent this notion right to him. Maui's whole head frowned a displeased glimpse. She rolled here eyes around and shrugged with a grin."Were you even listening to me?", His huff flatted the flames.  
" _Excuse me._  It is hard to make out your sarcasm when you're blabbering all day long.", she contered. "Why is this important anyway?"  
"Because,  _chief_ , a full stomach will only make it harder for you where we are going!", Maui explained grunting.   
"Then ... What are we waiting for?", impatiently Moana wanted to know, why they were wasting time.   
Rushes of blood made his cheeks turn dark, like she had cornered him. Maui had almost crushed his skull to figure out how to start without stretching her senses and straining their precious promise and had come to no conclusion. There was no other way around risking to shatter her mortal view how the world works.  
  
"Quiet, cookie - The cake's speakin'!", he shut her up and gleamed at her. A deep inhale later, he could finally gather himself.  
" ... Okay, first of all, what do you know about other realms like Lolotai, per example?"   
"... Not much? ... ", eager to know what he was getting at she peered at him.  
"Gramma Tala told us about Pulotu, realm of spirits, but most of the stories were lost. She told me Ro'e was invading other realms too, so I guess- ", she thought for a moment, then a flash enlightened her gaze. "Is this where you'll bring us? To another realm?"  
  
Surprized his brows shot up, then he frowned, fastly studying her with fluttering eyes. Not prepared for her quick thinking he feared to have her back away into her fear of the unknown.  _'Calm. Best keep it simple.'_ , he decided. Tiny nodded in aggreement and got his back, as Maui fumbled around and opened a pouch of fragant herbs.   
  
"We'll have to at some point,", he started in a low rumble and sprinkled a pinch into the fire. Smoke emerged. It was sweet, spicy and crawled up her nostrils, before running down her spine. "but first you have to learn how to control your conciousness."  
"What do you mean?", she asked after shaking off a short shudder.  
" _Here_ ", he gestured around referring to the living world. "Thoughts, words, dreams-"  
"Memories.", Moana threw in shortly and saw Maui's nodding smile.  
"They are nothing but a breeze in your hair. You can feel it, but not grasp it, right?", Tiny nodded. "Wrong. In other realms they can be a powerfull force. A weapon or an armour, to shield yourself from the bad ones. ... " 

How Maui spoke made her realize he had witnessed her nightmares. The young woman avoided looking at him and swallowed. She could still feel the cold claws of her night-terrors which called back out of the void she had banned them to. It was just a whipser now, but she could not get rid of the icy mantle around her shoulders and Maui felt it.   
"Mistakes, guilt and failing or loss ... They can hurt you, crush you ... But they can't make you disappear.", his low voice reached for her hand and a huming warmth spread across her chest. " .. And just talking about the stuff which's going on in your pretty skull would take too long."  
Being called pretty by him did leave a rosy sensation on her nose.   
"Soooo ...  I thought  _'Why not going there and taking care of things first hand?'_ ", Maui closed and left Moana slightly confused.  
" .. Go ... Where? ... In my head?"  
"Not really, but ... No, yeah. It's ... Pretty much that.", he yielded nodding and rubbed his temples.   
"Uh- Maui, I don't think-", she started to give her weariness a chance to show itself, but he ran over it.  
"Don't worry. It's not as brutal as it sounds! All we are going to do is leaving our physical bodies behind to go into your nightmares!"  
Moana stared at him like a startled turtle.  
"I made it sound worse, did I." he sunk down to his normal size.  
"Yeah.", Moana nodded aggreeing and was already looking for an escape route if he'd start to try something both might regret later.  
"Well. It's not!", Maui started to get tense. " _Trust_  m-!"   
 "I  _do_ , Maui!", Moanas looked into his nervousness when soft fingertips found his hand. " .. But what has it to do with Iida?"  
Maui was speechless. On one hand, because she was invading his personal space without having prepared a flirty response. On the other, because her eyes reflected the flames like sunken treasures on the darkest bottom of the ocean. He wasn't so sure anymore if it was such a good idea. It wasn't like he doubted her capabilities. The Demi-God was just being afraid she might see dark passages of his own past as well or get lost in opportunities they didn't have in the waking world. He knew her like the carpet on his skin and that  _both of them_  would be easily tempted.   
"It will be better if I show you." Maui said quietly and took her right hand in his left. " ... If you still want to see, that is."   
  
Gently Moana squeezed his big paw and supressed a lovestruck gasp. While her call fixed its tune only on them, she found it hard to respond.  
"Yes.", came out only in a whisper.  
  
The Demi-God's lungs pressed a huff out like he was about to do a daring jump into strange waters. His eyes lay on their hands for a moment, then he sighed and lifted them up. Palm on palm -compared to his, hers was like the veins of a leaf- she watched him as their fingers entwined.  
"First, whatever happens, stick close to me and  _don't_  wander off alone.", he said emphatic. "Unless you want us both to get kicked out into  _what-ever._ "   
Moana nodded understanding, then shook her head, but it wasn't enough for him.   
"Repeat what I just said!", he demanded overly protective.   
"Maui! I get it!", the young chief complained irritated. She didn't like being pushed back into being the unexperienced girl from 2 years ago. And his warning was too vague for her to understand what he was referring to.   
"Repeat. It!", Maui closed in to her and stared her down.   
" _Stick close to you and not wander off_ , I got it!" she droned out just to please his ears. Shoving the nasty controvercy between them aside, was like shooing a nasty parasite that kept on buzzing around their noses. Maui straightened his back and took a deep breath. " ... Now, relax."  
Moana laxed her shoulders. "More."  
"What do you mean m-"  
" _Shushshsh!_  Just do what I say!", he pressed his right hand over her blabbering.  
She rolled her eyes and checked if Tiny was having the same opinion about his behavior. Little Tiny nudged both his paws towards her as if saying  _'Go on!' ._ If even his tattoos adviced her to follow his instructions ... The young chieftess tried once more.   
"Better. ... Now, close your eyes and breathe, try to calm your heart."  
"It is calm.", she did close her eyes though.  
"No, it's not."  
"Maui-"  
"Moana.", he warned her slowly losing his patience.  
"-It's yours!", Moana broke the chatter of night into pieces.   
  
True.   
He was pretty shaken by his own plan for several reasons, but had been so fixed on her that he had mistaken the racing in his torso for hers. Maui curled his lips and didn't speak another word. Having this put aside, the chieftess inhaled deeply. Around her nothing but soundfull darkness and the warmth of crackling embers. The sweet air drove her senses to an edge with every breath she took.   
"Good. ... ", the large man mumbled. She heard him shifting. "Now think of the earliest memory, every detail. Focus on it."  
  
Small feet, big eyes, a gentle heart. Only her, the bright sky, white sand. Moana saw it clearly, like it had been yesterday. The first day she had felt the deep connection to the ocean. It had greeted her back then, called for her, when a humming, green stone had been put in her tiny hands. The chieftess smiled, her spirit dancing in nostalgia. Maui didn't ask, didn't say anything, when his touched the centre of her forehead. Moana was pushed back and she fell into darkness. 

 

\------------------------------

  
Two shadows stretched like pillars into the dark. Demi-God and chieftess stayed sitting at the camp fire. completely still, their hands touching, as the wind's gentle tickle was ignored and the sounds of the night went quiet. First hidden by the shades of large trees, a huntress lurked on noiseless trails out of the white smoke. First she was just a murmur in the gloom, a rumour told by terrifyed prey. She always hunted at night, her countenance would not have it any other way. Strange noises she hadn't heard in a long time had brought her here, where their brothers and sisters resided. She lowered her jaw to taste the air. Fresh scents made her form prickle with excitement. Soon  _the others_  would come and follow her, like they had done for many generations of her kind. They'd come, they'd take their kin and they'd leave them blinded by terror.   
  
She?   
She'd stay, pick up the pieces they'd leave behind and maybe ... Maybe she'd aid them, follow them back to where they kept her offspring in depressing, dark caves under the earth. Her intimidating, slim body duck as smoke hit her face. Many fires blinding her sharp eyes. She could not grasp how they could bend it to their will and it was too risky for her to get any closer. She'd wait here.  _The white_  would follow soon, hide her, bring the monsters back to life who praised her and she'd take the fresh and weakest. It was her nature. Her right. She'd take it and nobody could stop her. She was shadow, a ghost.  _The others_  chanted her _Ro'e._

 

 

 


	21. Puʻuhonua

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Puʻuhonua" means 'refuge'

Lunged backwards into a black hole, the chieftess witnessed the waking world depart. First she fell through her earthly shackles and utter darkness swallowed her racing heart. A shifting voice spoke distant words she did not understand, yet flung her around like many grasping hands were tearing at her being. _" **Focus!** " _, it roared inside and everywhere, as a flux pushed her deeper like a gravity mocking rock. Shreds of gloomy light flickered behind her eyes. Next she was blinded by something equal to the reflection of a grey morning.

Together they stood on plainy grounds, covered in gentle clouds. Their hands where still touching and Maui's dark eyes darted down on her.  
"What did I tell you?!", he barked and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You almost lost yourself!"

His unexpected anger made her hesitate and confused she steered around.  
_'What happened?'  
'What the-?!'_  
_'Where are we?'_  
_'Who-!?'_

Startled by the sound of her unspoken thoughts she froze in wonder.  
"Did you hear that?", she hissed, wide eyes rolled around.  
"Yes. I did.", Maui stated and drew an impatient breath. "Everytime you-"  
_  
'It's me -_ _What? - How? -_ _What is going on? Shut Up!' ,_  her mind stumbled and instinctevly she tore her gaze around.  
_'Stop Thinking!',_ his mind barked, putting a finger under her jaw to make her look at him. The fog seemed to react to his mood, changing colors. Red, golden, white and meeting with her startled blue aura in the middle. "Everything you  _feel_  and  _think_  is thrown back at you, if you don't know how to hold it back.", he mutted fast, while spying a few times nervously over his shoulders. They were covered in white smoke, waiting and not sure what to show. "It can change the very ground we're standing on, so it's better you don't get distracted, Curly."  

"Now what you need to do is focus on the very first memory of your life!", his grip went tighter as his glare whispered of urgency or danger."And fast! I'll explain later!"  
"Why? Is something-", she managed to spit out the ball sticking in her throat, when his genious could not hide his sorrows.  
  
_'Take-She-her-mustn't-with-find-you!-us!' ,_ they heard his thoughts. _'Not-She-safe-can-here!-do it!'_ , when a flock of birds appeared out of the fog to their right and into cotton clouds to their left. His voices were taken away by their wings, while Moanas eyes followed them.  _'Birds?'_    
  
"Heh! Sweet-heart!", he snapped his fingers under her nose. "Eyes down here! Now do what I told you!"   
  
Moana swallowed hard and nodded, yet her instinct wouldn't listen. It showed different paths and scenes from her life. ' _His eyes- Don't -so deep.-touch him.'_ , she whispered without moving her lips. ' _Go back.-The glade.',_ she pressed them shut and ember-like smoke formed warm imagines, fluently whirling around them and planting new pictures in the air.They saw what they both had kept hidden behind a veil of denial. Golden mist drew them in a serene idyll.  _He held her in his arms, his hands entangled in her hair. Hushing eyes, gleaming cheeks, they were in a tight embrace._  
  
_'Too far-Never should-gone.-have left!'_

"What did I just  _say?!_ ", Maui whined frustrated, as if she burned him and let go. The look he gave her was tense and hurt. He felt the fresh wound pounding inside and burning down his defense. As he saw something behind her. Maui's aura went pale for a short moment. Moana felt the flash of pain and she already spotted its reflection in his eyes. Two shady figures was all she could make out, but it was enough for every inch of her creaving soul. Urged to turn and face it, big, strong hands seized her shoulders once more. "No! Don't pay attention to it!", Maui stared in her uneasy features. "Just think of this one memory! You had it, don't let it go!"

" _I'_ m _T_ r _y_ i _n_ g _!_ ", she and her mind shouted overlapping. Stressful she drove her hands into her scalp, shoving Mauis paws away and missed the feeling of her hair tingling her skin. ' _It's gone- No! It's just not- forever?- real.'_   Confusion took on a wild, threatening color. _'Can't-STOP!-I-stop-have-thinking!-to-You-I-remember!-can-have-do-to-this!-fight!'_  The foggy borders stirred, giving birth to a dark vortex of roaring clouds and hurtful words. _'Fight!-I-They-And-have-need-you-to-me!-hide!-protect- **COWARD!** -them!'_ Voice over voice thundered painfully in their heads like being struck by lighting.  _'Her-It's-fate-your-is-doing!-your- **FAILURE!** -fault!'_  
  
" ** _Moana!_** ", the Demi-God shouted her name in distress, but his words were swallowed by the stormy pillar twisting the fog high above.  
"Moana! _Take my hand!_ "  
  
Maui reached out to her, but could only witness her struggling with her emotions. He tried to block the storm she hurled around them or it would take him too. He had pushed her here believing she could find a way by herself, but a dark maw was hovering above them making time  _unsteady_. Gruesome images would not give her a moment of rest. She could not look away and she could not hear Maui anylonger. Inside the teinted storm howled shadowy creatures and hands, like burned wood, clawed at her.  
  
" ** _Watch out!_** "  
  
Maui tried to wake her and swiped them away fiercly, as she flinched backwards. Closer to the stirring walls behind, ash opened like an eye, revealing an eery version of the waking world. Black stone and a beast lurking in the shadows. The young chieftess stared right at it. Its body was black as coal and covered in thick smoke. First it cowered, like sneaking up on prey they could not suspect. Next, it turned its grotesque visage and piercing eyes. White, sharp fangs revealed a hiss that could only be heard in nightmares. It  _saw_  her. Moana could feel its twisted intuition - violent, lost, thirsty for revenge and an  _end_. The shape-shifters mind went apart as an ice-cold horror shot their heart. Maui swung around the moment the monster's smoke-like claw seized her by the necklace. Tormented, the young chieftess didn't have time to make any sound. It roared, hissed in her face and far away a childrens cry was heard. Too stubborn to let go or call for help, she tore at the precious trinket and screamed through grinding teeth. With their bond and standing in seperate, yet connected puddles, both reacted like one being. He did one step, she pressed her flat palm on the monsters visage and burned its skin. The soot melted away and extinguished in silvery dew. Howling like a tortured cat it pulled away and fled back where it came from. A gentle drop cooled her cheek and ran it down like a tear, while the window faded.  
  
_'Back - What - into - was - the - it?! - fog! The Fog!?'_

She had seen this kind of mist in her dreams before. _'The Fog!'_  
Right away time stood while water touched their feet. Maui stared down and his mind went blank. Black and white spots formed a field in thick cotton-like air. Vulcanic gravel everywhere and the raspy voice of an old woman ended the silence.

_'She **is**  the fog!'_

Words spoken by her grandmother in a time of need pushed the steam back, blew away the thunderous clouds like silver stardust. She watched in awe as fog covered black stone and two misty figures rose, taking form.

A ghostlike Tala cupped the cheek of a silvery shadow. Herself.   
_'Just like you are the ocean ... '_  
_'Gramma, you're not making any sense.'_

Moana covered her face with both hands. __'Focus-it's not-on this day!-so hard!'__

 _'Remember-He is-The sea-the turtle!-here!-played with my hair!'_   Swirling around like a flock of silvery fish her words ripped quickly healing holes in the veil, revealing peeks into a fast night. _'Don't-Listen!-let him-Stars?-see!'_    
  
Even thought Moanas eyes were shut, she knew, she felt it. _'Stars.'_  She heard the eterity, the tides.  _'Two -Diamonds and-skies.-black waters.' Two among stars! Stars! Stars!'_     
  
It lured a very fresh memory out of a foggy grave. Her heart sunk when she grasped who it was. Formed out of smoke and mist, her one armed friend sitting intront of her.  _"  
... You need water and wind to follow the stars."_ , her illusive voice was soft and shifting here, like it was lost to time. It sounded like the half of a whole. An echo shattering on hills.  _'No! Not this one!'_  , her spirit cried and her shadowy copy blushed, before crumbling back to its nothingness.

Maui watched it disappear without being able to cope what Iida had told her,  _how_  she had sounded. Far, far away. _'Later!'_ , he reminded himself and got back to her.  
"C'mon! Curly! Hold it long enough and it stays on its own!", he almost shouted against the unwordly wind. "I know you can do it!"  
  
When his strong hands intended to grap her and rip her out of her mind, their surroundings began to flicker. Images turned to fine sand, became sunstreams, blue waves and sky, the sudden white beach blinded the Demi-God and the voices disappeared. Maui blinked an unshed blurr out of his sight and a warm torrent filled his self, spreadding purity like Te Fitis touch. Waves cooled their feet as the ocean reached for them. He heard the rushing tides, the seagulls calling and saw they were surrounded by mist, blurring everything farer than 15 feet. Inside the foggy mantle the memory was as clear as the day it happened. 

Moana could see the jolly puddles down from behind her hands and feel them. Feel them?  _'How?'_ , something whispered, but it was the only voice out of her control. Curious she lifted her chin. Maui stared down at her with an open mouth. He huffed fitfully and smirked at how his jaw had almost dropped. " _You did it!_ ", he snickered, unable to hide his amazement. "Good job, Moana!" 

Moana was blinded by the flashing sunlight, but it didn't kiss her skin. Fine, white sand beneath her feet didn't round her toes and the gentle breeze would only play with the bright, green bushes bordering the shore. The first time the ocean had called her in a mumbling whisper had never left her hurt. Now it filled her with nostalgia and made her heart sting. She was home.  _'Motonui.'_  , her core sighed. Her island always had been a true tropical paradise, where the happy people dwelled in the village.  _Where_  and  _when_  no sorrow could've touched her untainted spirit. 

A single notion changed the lines of her dreams and she carefully let her hands slide down. Eager to look upon the village she was born and raised in, she turned to see. While Mauis eyes were fixed on her every expression an exhausted Moana blew her cheeks and fell on her bottom. The young chieftess felt like inhaling deeply, but here it didn't make any difference. She'd have to wait to calm down. Maui didn't have to ask how she was feeling. Birds crossed the skies once more, when he wrapped an arm around her shaken figure.  
  
"... Take your time, butter-cup.", his warm voice soothed her and he patted her back. "We're safe here."   
"... What just happened?". she wheezed impatiently. The young chieftess rubbed her sore neck and still felt her heart pumping. "What was that  _thing?_ "   
"A strayed nightmare.", Maui rumbled. "... Did you see it before?"  
"No.", baffled Moana shook her head, not sure what to make of it. "It wasn't mine!"  
It was hard to put a finger on her memories without freeing their echoes. She kept thinking of aquamarine reefs. " _The crying!_  "  
Frowining his eyes rolled around throwing asside unheard thoughts.  
"What  _crying?_ "  
"There was a child crying! Didn't you hear it?"  
Wings flapped above as the birds made a playful turn.   
"Still not over kissin' babies?", he sneered.  
He felt her snapping patience and blocked her three punches with a fast paw. "Stop your stupid jokes! What if it was  _HER?_   What if Kaiko is in danger?!"  
"Easy, girl!", she hushed like talking to a shy goat. "I don't think it was your lil' bro!"  
"How can you be so sure?", she wanted to know.   
"It is complicated.", he tried to block her.  
"Try me!", she growled encouraging and boxed him in the chest again.  
 "Let me put it this way,  _mrs. noisy-skirt!_ " The Demi-God pouted slightly annoyed."You know the old phrase  _'foggy memories'_  or somethin' like that?"   
A flash crossed Moanas mind and she studied the white mist far away before looking back in his face.  
"I guess? ... Is this Ro'es fog? Is she here?"  
"Yes ..." The Demi-God shook his dangling locks. "No. She wasn't here when it happened."  
The young woman stared with wide spheres at him for a while, before her snipping answer came.    
"...  _Huh?!_ "  
Maui rubbed his temples and gestured with his hand.   
"Look! Just like the ocean, the fog connects.", he started anew.   
" ... but to  _step_  on  _new land_  you first have to  _find it?_ ", she closed hesitating.  
"... I almost started to doubt you ... ", he referred to him  _trying her_  and blocked another punch. "Every dream and memory is shrouded in fog, so It can be used as a path. That crunchy fan of yours probably just smelled your panic some _when_ and followed your  _juicy scent._ "  
Maui's wink painted the air around her in a vibrant pink and lured a cough out of her. As if it would make any difference Moana hid behind her long curls and padded her hand in his flirty grin. " _Stahp!_ " A blush is a blush. The shape-shifter chuckled.   
"Still doesn't proove it wasn't Kaiko I heard.", she grunted.  
"Well, it surely was crazy for the autograph it got.", he purred somewhat proud. Curiously raising an eyebrow, he added. "How did you get rid of it so fast?"  
Moana thought of water and stared down her hands. When she had touched it, she had felt its shell prickle away under her palm like foam.   
"I don't know." Clueless her gaze crossed his. "It was like it couldn't stand my touch."  
Moana snatched herself back to her feet to take a look around. "Why here?", she asked still touched by her vision of her home.

"And here I thought you payed attention to my wayfinding lessons.", Maui jeered just to mock her. "This is the very root of your story. It will always be your best refuge."   
Moana nodded understanding, but frowned shortly after. "Even from Ro'e?", she asked wondering and looked up to him.   
  
Mauis steps did no sound as he circled around, obscuring the blurred borders, like something would jump out on them any moment.  _'Closer to your mana.'_ , his mind revealed. His short grimace made clear it wasn't even intended. He meat her squeezed eyes and clenged his jaw. Small shadows broke the sunlight in the sky, as the flock of birds drew larger circles, taking her attention from him for a brief moment.  
"What was that?", suspiciously Moana narrowed her eyes at him. Of course she would cling to it.  _Busted!_  Staring at her, Maui pulled his face between his shoulders like a retreating turtle. "Maui, tell me! You know this could take fore-!"  
"The older the memory, the closer you are to your ancestors!", the tenseness in his voice almost startled her. Maui turned away.  
"Your mana is the strongest at its beginning, ", where this was going seemed to bother him. "It can be cracked, but it is the  _shittiest_  to reach."  
  
Angry black birds started japing in the sky.  
She felt it tingling in her neck, something she probably wouldn't want to hear but had to. Moana's eyes rolled from his first tattoe to his left hand. Her fingertips twitched to follow their guidence, but she didn't dare to touch him. "Maui? ...", her careful whisper seemed to wake him. "How do you know so much about the fog all of a sudden?"  
" _Hana Lepo_! Do you think Ro'e wouldn't try to take more memories from me?", it was now clear to her, it was a confession he just prepared. "She made me forget more. ... "   
'Another secret. ... ' , her mind hissed and stung him. She tightened her fists, but she let him speak.   
"It's not like that!", he tore himself around to face her. "I couldn't tell you after what happened to beach-b- ... To Iida.", Maui startend reasoning now.  
"You weren't ready to hear ... "   
The pause he made felt like crazed tapa in her disposition.   
"Maui.", she made him look at her. "What did you forget?"  
The stone which was supposed to beat in her chest, spread across his face instead.  
"Everything between the moment I found out about her mutilation." The shape-shifter took a while to sort the best way to put it. "and the point I went crazy on her."  
  
Maui shared a cold rush of an old scar with her and fought the urge to look away.  
"Long story comin' up", he huffed the warning and went on. "It's better when I show you."  
  
Maui lifted his arm like wiping away flies. The mist following in his track formed two cotton-like pillars. The first big and strong, towering over the second, gentle one. Moana recognized their shapes and figured it must've been what she had seen reflected in his eyes. Jealousy pierced her heart and echoed loud in the air, making the leafes shake.  
" _Aww_ , chiefy!", The Demi-God wiggled his brows at her. "Didn't know you were the type!"  
_'Go On!"_  Moana's mind shouted and she crossed her arms.   
He would not hide his knowing smirk, but it faded rather fast. Like waiting for instructions, the cloudy figures would not move until he concentrated on the story again.   
  
_... Maui had his tense claw around her arm, as she cowered on the cold stone. Weak like a fire set on wet wood, she did not fight him, did not struggle. So fearful and tears streaming down her delicate face. Her dread was the last he wanted from her. He wanted to hear her speak, he wanted to help her. Lift her spirit. ..._  
  
"I got the stupid idea to show her the same stuff I'm showing you right now. ..."  
  
_... No words were spoken, as he touched her forehead and freed her spirit. Their earthly shells were left, while their souls went on like wind. He took her on a stroll through her dreams, her past. Hand in hand, they shared a lot of time, memories. Faces they once knew, places they had been, tears they had shed. He wanted to trust her. ..._  
  
" ... We were close at some point. Close enough for me to spill the beans about my Heart-of-Tefiti-quest."   
  
_... Ro'e was thankful for he had shown her a way to speak, but her lips were a thin line. She took his hands as if trying to reason with him. ..._

"Ro'e wasn't very fond of my plans. So she made me an offer."  
Silence fell as slender, black and feathered shades landed around the bushes nearby and leered over to them. The chieftess felt the knot slowly climbing up his throat and she tightened her fists. She knew she didn't want to hear what he had to tell her. It frightened her, but she had to know. "What was it?"   
  
"To make me mortal instead."   
She swallowed and her beam almost dug a hole in this thick skull of his.   
"How did you ..."  
  
"I jabbed in her face of course!", Maui threw himself away with both arms in the air, like it had been the most logical thing to do. "As if she'd be able to take the awesomeness from me!"  
"So, you angered her!", annoyed she shook her head. "And then??"   
"She went total bananas! Threw curses at me", he ended. "Can you imagine?  _Me!_ "  
" _Oh, no. what a nightmare._ ", she moaned.  
"No.", he coughed and pointed out to the changing images. " _This_  was!"  
The cloudy shapes fell apart and built themselves up again. This time they were dark, threatening.  
  
_... Ro'e was covered in black smoke, as her rage and pain took over. The storm in her back grew bigger, hurled him around like a sandcorn and swallowed him in one gulp. And inside it's core he saw the cruelties adhering to her story. ..._  
  
"The moment she got in contact with the fog, she showed me the truth about her.", he growled. "Ro'e was a witch. One of the grudge-spitting kind. Sick shit, like summoning monsters and raising the dead."  
  
Moana wanted to ask a question, but Maui wasn't finished yet. So her pointing finger sunk down again.  
"Ro'e already knew of the fog. She told me she used to call it by singing ancient words.", he stated, knowing she followed him this far.   
"That's why they cut out her tongue.", she spoke out her thoughts in a hushed mumbling.   
"There is more.", he continued and the dark shadow of his past went on.   
  
_... Maui fended off her attacks, trying to restrain her. Calm her down! He reached out to her, calling her name, when suddenly her voice seemed to fade away. He wasn't sure if it was inteded or not, but he could only watch Ro'e doing one step too far ... Carried away by the twisted vortex, she fell into a jawning, black eye in the sky. ... Blown away by swirling stars, images and emotions, her vision crumbled ...  
  
_ The young woman watched the image of her enemy getting lost, throwing Maui's shape out of the shown realm and the memory disappeared.   
  
"When I woke, she was still unconcious.", he rumbled from above. "and I was still pissed at her for attacking me, but ... I couldn't hurt her like that. ... Well, and you know the rest."   
  
The chieftess kept her mind at bay as many questions urged her to nagg him.   
"Why would she let you forget all of this?", she chose to ask.   
"Because I was thinking about it, when I had to rescue you out of this soup!"  
  
The chieftess' jaw dropped open and she frowned, thinking about letting her protest go wild. A fat sea-gull dropped in the background from the sky, whildy thrashing its wings and yapping. Both turned to look at it.   
  
_A single, strong builded gull, flying up and letting itself fall hard to the ground, just to churn it's wings and feathercoat._  
_Frustrated cries came everytime it started anew. Fly up, circle, falling -hard- and bleating._    
  
Maui ignored Moanas victorious smirk completely and turned to look upon her memory, like it just popped up.   
"Let's get to work on your mood, shall we?!"

  
"No, Maui. I'm not finished yet!", she placed her hands on his collarbones and stopped him in his tracks. Her chest was still seething from watching her first serious love with another, but she faught hard to keep it behind cooling curtains. "Why did the eel have your spell?", like having glowing embers in her throat her voice gained strenght."Where did her spirit disappear to and  _Where Is She Now?_ "

  
_'-Is - How - she - do - now? - we find her?!'_ , her snarling thought escaped and echoed a while. Unlike expected, the smoke formed only one memory. They saw a misty cliff at night, two figures standing ontop. One raised spear pointed at a deformed monstrosity with razorsharp fangs.   _'  
Fight - I - She - her! - have - will - to - not - stop - her- her! - another!'  
_  
"Sorry ... ", she said when it faded and ashamed of her fury she hung her head. Though it was mostly his amusement greeting her.   
"Heh!  _So_  dedictated!.", he chuckled cheerfully and straightened, pressing the fists in his hips. " ... First things first, Curly. "  
  
"Alright. ...", Moana sighed deeply and laxed her arms giving in. "What's next?"   
"You tell me!", he promted with a knowing smile and gestured around. "What happened here that day?"  
  
She held her breath. The first thing she remembered of that day, when she had discovered the sea for the first time, was  _green_.  
  
Leafes ruffled and there the little, curly haired girl was. Demi-God and chieftess flung their heads around to watch a one-year-old Moana strolling down the shore. Giggling and bright, wonderous eyes, tiny grapping hands, chubby legs. Adult Moana felt Maui's big, brown eyes in her side and tensed her jaw. She didn't have to look to know what kind of a face he was making. Lips pressed shut, twisted in a wide smirk and a grunt was rumbling in his throat.    
" _Awww!_ "  
"Not a word.", she warned him.    
"Why? Look at how you walked!", he mocked her squealing. "I have to say, you didn't change a bit, except now you're three times bigger."   
Armed with only a leaf, as big as she, toddler Moana shielded a baby turtle from its winged attackers and guided it safely down into the water. Adult Moana felt her whole face blushing and the delighted sounds Maui was making did not make it any better.  
"Why do I have the feeling you tricked me into showing you this ... ", Moana mumbled under his attend to mime the sound toddler Moana was making, when one of the black birds snapped at the baby turtle. " _Iieehh._ "   
" _Argh!_  Shuddit.", grinning she wiped her palm over his smirk. "Why do I have the feeling I grant you too much insight?!"  
Maui laughed silently, fending off her hands, while toddler Moana took a walk around glittering waves. He never could've imagined how  _Bubbles_  had tested her, not to forget at such a young age. To actually witness these wonderous moments as the oldest memory Moana had to offer, filled him with awe. His smile did not fade away, when he turned to her again. His chieftess returned it and fed the hot flame inside.   
  
Without her content the flash reaching her mind went on to his. Her curiosity's colors were one of a kind, he'd always recognize them. Everywhere.  
"What is your first memory?", she asked him bluntly. He opened his mouth to drop a witty response, but her finger pressed his lips shut. "And don't even think  _Nunya!_ "  
The shape-shifter narrowed his brows and all she felt was him fighing with himself. He didn't seem to her like he really wanted to show, yet a part of him wanted to trust her with this. The young chieftess's smile grew wider and a bit pleading. "Come on, Maui! It's only fair."  
They stared at each other like fighting a silent duel, beaming noisiness against grumpy stubborness, while her memory came to an end.   
"Alright!", Maui gave in, strongly shaking his black locks. Moana almost hobbed into the air in small celebration. "But I'm not gonna undress for you, greedy!"   
  
She got startled by his statement for a second, when a high pitched voice echoed out of the white. Only dressed in a few leafes tangling from a thin cord, a chubby boy dashed from left to right on stumpy feet. His wild, black mane was standing in all directions and his fat, little arms were widened like wings.  
  
_'Swooooooshhh Flyflyflyflyfly Ssshhhhhhh!',_ his far, far, _far_  younger demi-self made the sound of flying, before poofing into the clouds.

Moana felt like inhaling every moment and the hot ball forming in her throat didn't take long to fling right at him.   
"Is that  _YOU?_ " , wide, delightful spheres glared up to him.   
" _I Know Right?!_ ", his respond was almost as high-pitched as the boys squeak. He tiptoed on the spot, hiding his excited grin behind his fists. "I was  _SO_  cute!"  
"You were a fat baby!",  She could not hold back her laughter, looking at the clumsy boy running in circles.   
Indignant the Demi-God turned around again, almost hitting her with his locks.  
" _Excuuuuse_  me, Princess?!", he overreacted, pointing with both flat hands at the scene. "This is not  _fat_! This is  _potential!_ "  
  
She watched him from the side and could almost feel her blood pulsing in her chest. She had rarely seen him fuzzing over a kid like this, even if it was odd for someone to find oneself cute. Moana threw her grin from the adorable child to the bigger version. She still could see some of his childish features left in his broad face and asked herself behind rushing waves, how their children would look like. She staggered, as something flashed in the corner of her view and she turned her head slightly.   
  
Silvery dust crawled up behind her, began to  _breath_  and glittering diamonds showed a gentle, cozy figure. Long hair embraced her back like a waterfall and a happy face greeted a shadow closing in. She could see her swollen belly. The young woman did not dare to take one step, nor to react. What staggered her was the fact that  _this_  was not one of her memories. She could not risk shaping the ground beneath them, while trying to remember. Still, she needed to see who this man was, sitting down next to her and stroking a strain of starlight behind her ear. Sadly he did not form in time, when Maui's voice disturbed her silent staring. Her heart jumped.

  
  
"No wonder the gods saved me!", he placed a hand on his cheek, watching himself trying to fly. Baby Maui fell on the nose and starting to wail.  
" _Awww!_ ", Moana payed him back, but swallowed the rest down. Again she turned to the vision, hoping to take a glimpse, but it was gone. She had no idea how she had summoned it in the first place. As much as she wanted, she could not repeat it. Then, a huge, black hand, covered in bright starlight nudged the crying boy with a gentle finger. Now it was Mauis turn to leer at her from the side. He had saved this moment and sensed her questions, but they were tossed into his nostalgia.   
"Ahh, Rehua.", Maui spoke with a soft smile, as the starstruck hand picked up the child and carried it away. Wondering Moana gaped at him. The name was known among her people like the ocean was. _Rehua, the god of stars._ The very sacred personage, who dwelled in the tenth and highest layer of the heavens, was a direct descendant of Ranginui, the sky-father, and Tuanuku, the earth-mother. Her eyes grew even wider as it hit her like a swing by his mighty fish-hook. Maui's mana was part of the very beginning. She could not speak. Of course she knew Maui had been raised by the gods, but she hadn't expected his roots to be  _royal_. Even among the gods themselves he was of  _royalty_.  
" _Helloooo?_ ", he lifted her up like a stiff doll, ice cracked under her feet. "We might have an eternity here, but we don't have enough of it for brain-farts!"  
"Maui, let go." Moana huffed between incomprehensible noises and landed on the imaginetive grounds.   
  
"Just making sure you're paying attention.", he said firmly, gesturing to follow. "Now comes the hard part of your lessons!"  
"How many lessons are there?", she asked and kept close to him.   
"As many stories your nightmares tell you."   
Moana's feet grew cold and she stopped in her tracks.  _'We're going now?!'_ , the question sneaked out behind her tongue she wanted to bite it for not making a proper job.  
  
"Yep!", he answered roughly and did not wait for her. "Stick close to me!"   
Like a startled rabbit she rushed at his side, keeping her eyes at his face. "Wouldn't it be better if I try visiting another harmless memory? Practising and all?"   
Now that she was so close to facing her own demons, she was not so sure anymore if she was ready yet. She had been struggling the first time she had retreated into her own mind and she feared she'd loose herself. Just like Ro'e. Moana felt his mood grow colder. Again there was this unnatural fear, which he hated so much. He ignored her terms and kept walking into nothing but white dust.  
"Maui, what if I end up like her?", she would not stop. "What if I can't summon my first memory?!"

"You are tied to this place!", stiffened he turned to her. "You'll always be able to return to it."  
_'In case ... '_ , his thought escaped.   
"In Case?", she repeated, but thought of an answer herself. _'... I fail.'_  
"You wont.", the stone hard face he gave her did not make it easier for her to believe. So close to her core, he could not lie about his feelings. She sensed they stepped into greater danger than in Te Ka's mouth. "Whatever happens, Moana.", Maui assured her and placed a hand over his heart. "You have  _Me_  with you." 

Together they disappeared into dark dreams and the shades they dragged behind reached for their hands to hold on. 

 

 


	22. Hahai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hahai" meaning 'hunt' 
> 
> I looked so long for this translation. ... Geeze. some words do not exist o_o
> 
>  
> 
> ::::: UPDATE::::::
> 
> Confused two Characters.  
> Changed name from Hana to Ema!

Iida had watched Moana sneak away without any empulse of stopping her. Something had stirred in her stomach since sundown and had kept her awake. She knew its colors _there_ , but _here_ is was a heavy knot she could not wish away. What they called fear had been born by a memory, stuck in time on the other side. The huntress had seen many futures at once. She knew the truth. While stories abound her source of strength had followed her, her whole life she had felt strange in her own body. Now the cage her spirit had paced inside had been ripped open. It had freed her, shown her purpose. Answers to where she would be needed, so Moanas story could end in golden rain. Back to back with her, the shrouded shape of a boy sat up, when she did and she turned her head.   
  
"Are you sure you want to go?", she only moved her lips, so feint, no words were spoken.   
 "One of us has to.", his voice whispered from behind the veil. "And it always has been supposed to be me."   
Touched she lowered her gaze away from him for a moment and glanced back into the face of a teenager. It didn't startle her in the slightest, for she knew he was caught in a shared memory. Sadness chocked her and a ghostlike hand tendered her face. "Iida.", his hush trembled. "I stuck to the bargain we made. Now you have to go on!"  
"But. ... She will destroy you. ... "  
"There is no memory of me to be destroyed.", he spoke softly and lowered his head in a sigh. He shifted his appearance, until a young man stood up with her.   
  
Iida could not speak. She knew she could say or do nothing to stop destiny, though she screamed an unspokent prayer. It all had been set by the stars so long ago to prevent the world from falling apart. To be a chosen part of what was about to come was a heavy burden. They shared a gentle touch-goodbye of their heads, before he walked backwards with a sad smile on his edgy face. Mist appeared, where he stood moments ago. As soon as he was gone, Iida swalloed down the ball of ice. Soon it'd be time for her to be where she needed to be. The one-armed woman moved silently from her spot. She could feel the fresh air on her skin and smelled moldy grounds, which gave no sign of her wandering off into the wild.

 

\---------

 

They came when night was the darkest, when no sound would come out of the jungle. No animal found the courage to call, reveal its position. Many small eyes of nightly creatures reflected wavering banks, gently hovering and growing thicker. Time stood still. Touching and feeling the ground, thin strands of unwordly mist meandered and blurred the borders. A black claw slashed out of the dark and into the dirt. Stringy fingers wrapped around the fog like tissue. Oily muscles cracked, when the nightmare pulled its slender body up and threw earth and dry wood around. Its lungs crackled as it greedy sucked in the sweet air. The slender mask, which resembled a black-eyed shark, hid a fresh wound and a tense line of sharp teeth. The thick coat of long, black curls would not reveal its trembles. While others of  _her slaves_  parted out of the shadows, it - no, _he_  remembered. These forests were once his home. The trees spoke of many past centuries and a raspy growl rumbled in his ripcage. In a place where time had no reflection, one would lay off the very being. Ro'e had trapped him for what felt -  _felt!_ \- like an eternity. Used, to hunt down pure dreams. Now he was back. He was aware of all cruel deeds he had done under her hand. Now the returning burden of his once lost identity made his spirit unbeareable. The prey of his last hunt, now laying a few days in the past, would've pleased Ro'e very much, if he hadn't been interrupted. The echo of pain burned in his chest and his legs gave in to its weight. Like an exhausted animal he sunk to one knee. Shy talons touched a healthy patch over his deformed features and he let out a frustrated growl. Driven by  _her_  word, he could not explain how the last, dying spark of his soul could find a way back to his roots.

Something plain had caught his eye on the other side. Blue. He remembered seizing it and the moment a silver haze had touched his skin, his core had awoken. Cludged in his claw, a bijou he had stolen from the ghost. It would lead him back to its owner eventually. The creature, combinding monster and man, supressed any emotion crawling up his spine. If Ro'e learned of his found spark, he'd never be free of her. He'd hide who had given him a chance to end it all, he had no choice. Soon his army of the forgotten clawed their way out of their slumber. Strained echoes of what they once were. Standing still, their masks shape could not be told apart from bushes and leafes. The fog seemed to hold back the sound of their hushing steps. Hundrets of driven eyes gleamed, the fog in their backs and pointing their way. He saw the small torches surrounding the intruders huts, but they would not dare to enter their light until he told them to. 

\---------

Ioka yawned in his muscular arm. Even though he was slightly tense about his chance to become a _good_ chief, he was bored of waiting and running in circles. The night-patrols had been quiet for weeks and except for some hazy banks hovering between the trees, there was nothing to give him the chills. Figuring his shift would be over faster, he had stopped counting his rounds at twenty. Now his hazel eyes leered through the utter darkness the trees held. It snapped a few times in the bushes, beneath the canope, but these were only the voices of nature. Animals hushing around in the bushes, branches cracking and falling. Nothing unusual to him. Ioka always had been the relaxed one of the group, or so it seemed. He did not like showing everyone his true self. He saw no point in chatting and mostly tended his own business, like working in the fields, peeling coconuts or watching the beautiful young chieftess from afar. He had tried suiting her before and with the Demi-God out of the way, he already saw him hand in hand with her. He knew she could always change her mind about him, but why should she? They liked each other, he even dared to say they were distand friends, so he figured it a good base. He was reasonable, honest and  _oh so modest_. He stopped by the torch to take a look on his freshly finished tattoo. He had wanted to take the challenge to prove Moana he could endure pain. 

It didn't safe him though.  
He smelled soot and oil as the torch was blown out by cold wind. No light, a claw pressed his gorge shut so thight, he could not make a sound. An inhuman force snatched him from the spot, dragging him over the ground, away from the settlement. White smoke devoured him. He struggled, tried go get hold on the smeared skin of whatever dared to attack him. Sticks and stones flung around. In the darkness and rising fog he only saw razorsharp teeth grinning down at him. The creature looked humanoid, but its visage was hardened and its head was covered in black fur. No lips, monstrous eyes and a hatred shaking him to the core. Ioka broke out in cold sweat. He tried to call out, to warn his people, but its grip grew even tighter, forcing darkness over him. 

\---------

When Kaiko started to wail, Sina was quick on her feet to carry him outside. Gently rocking him while drawing trails in the ground, she hummed a soft tune, small verses, but her son would not be calmed. His tiny hands tugged at his mothers braid and small, pleading moons shone up to her. "What is wrong, love?", she whispered gingerly and caressed his small head. Kaiko would only hide in his mothers arms, fishing for the light of the torch. "Are you afraid of the dark, hm?", understandlingly she smiled down on him. "They're only shadows. It's nothing to be scared of."

Tired Sina spoke hushly, even though they were at a decent distance to her sleeping people. She had to admit, the forest was silent and she didn't feel so well near the border herself. No insect was chirping, no animal howling and no bird was singing. All she could make out was a gentle web of mist and the black planks the trees threw on the bushes. The breeze in her back was cold. As soon as chills covered her arms, she turned around and listened to her boy like a good mother. Suddenly Kaiko stopped crying, like being shaked by lighting, followed by the sound of hissing water on glowing hot stones. It was short and feint, but it startled her on the spot. The small hair in her neck prickled and instinctively her hands wrapped tighter around Kaiko. She moved and started to find condolence in the sound of her steps.   _Zzt!_ Sina froze first, throwing her head around, looking for the source of it. Did someone hiss to gain her attention? The mother wrapped herself in anger and huffed. She would not be fooled by her imagination, playing tricks on her.  _Zzt!_ This time it was followed by a raspy breath, a horrifyed scream. Then utter silence.

Not one second later, the half of the motunuians were awake. People jumping to their feet, exchanging worried words, questions what was happening. The air tingled on her feet and made her look. A cozy white blanket covering the very earth like a flood, when in every dark corner the air exploded in small thunderous clouds. Black shadows lashed out on soundless steps, twisted grimaces, thick coats of nightly fur and human human scalps. It scared the people to death. Chaos rolled over them as countless monsters pawned with them, toyed with their prey and dragged them into the jungle. Brave parents faught desperatly, protecting their children, while the fearless witnessed their families being torn apart. Sina started to run towards her hut, she had to check on Tui and Moana! "Sina!", someone called her name, but as she turned to see-  _Zzt!_  the hunter was dragged away, like he was a dry leaf. Her features went stonelike by terror and she held Kaiko pressed against her chest. " **Tui!** ", she screamed at the top her lungs. Her feet sent her flying the fifty steps back. The carpets of their hut were swepped asside by Tui. A torch in his hand, he crossed Sinas fearful gaze and hurried at his family's side. Once he saw the chaos, the question what was going on died before it even reached his mouth. "Where is Moana?", Sina panted. Worry widened the chief's eyes and hit her in the stomach, forcing the air out. "She is not with you?!"   
  
"Chief!", Mikala called from afar. His spear in a tight grip, he ran like a canoe could fly over the waves.  
The white tip of his weapon was bloodied. "Mikala!", As soon as he reached them, Tui got hold on his authority. "Come with me! We have to gather!"  
  
The air hissed close to them and taking Sina and her boy in the middle, they saw no reason to stay any longer. While the world around them seemed to be eaten alive by a thick, white mantle, gateways tore the air into shreds and giving insight to a cold place without light. The first weapon he saw, was picked up instandly, without taking his gaze off the scene. "Keep moving!", chief Tui commanded. Awaiting a monster attacking them from every direction at any moment, they ran past daring banks. 

\--------

Ema shattered the claypot on her attackers head, its oily claw still intwined in her hair. Shards sprinkled her face, dust blinded her eyes and the monsters jaw hit the mat. Lashing out at it in panic, she tore at her hair, trying to get free. She had made her way away from the sleeping grounds, trying to follow the wandering torchlight in the distance, when this creature had jumped at her. Her heart was racing faster than ever before.  
"HELP ME!", she screamed, hoping to be heard in the chaos around them. "I'm HERE!"  
  
Her savior came roaring like a kitten, armed to the teeth with a bundle of coconuts. Overconfident the twelve-year-old started beating the monster, while gleaming down on it with the face of a warrior. Rather disturbed than hurt, the monster jumped up on stringy feet. Provocated it needed only one strong swipe of its claw to rip the bundle out of the childs hands. Ema on the other hand felt a thick strand of her hair being ripped out. Freedom made her furious. Instandly she fumbled for the boy's hand and almost tore him off his feet. Fear ate her from the inside, freezing her heart. She could not grasp yet what happened and did not understand why. She did not think.

"What are these things?!", the once cheeky and brave boy, who always used to interrupt Moanas dance, was trying to stop his tears.   
Ice stuck her tongue to her gums. Her horrifyed mind was ripped into shreds, so only her instincts commanded her feet to follow the torch, leading near the cliffs. To stay out of the dark and away from the fog. Warm fire was all she could think about. "Ema?", she ignored the boy, until she saw spots of red in a swirl of grey smoke. Like a tropical oasis on harsh grounds, round about twenty people formed a defending circle around children, the elders and the sick. Finally Ema let out a desperate sound, as she broke into tears. "Chief!", she cried out. Strong arms seized her and many bodies took them into their mids. 

Sina stood in Tui's back, flanked by the only hunters and warriors left. She held her crying son high, so his little head would meet no ellbow. They could not see far, for the white soup had surrounded them. They stuck close to each other, moved like a swarm of fish. "To the shore.", was all Tui could hiss. He tried not to think about how many people were already missing or worse. He knew they could not stay and he saw only one option. If they could reach the canoes, they had a chance to gather, to find out where they had taken their people.  
  
"What about Moana?", he heard his wife's pleading whisper from behind. "Did anyone see her?"   
_Zzt!_ This sound, she had heard before, came again and again, from every direction.Tui held the flame high, while Mikala and the other hunters barbed the small group with sharp spears. Silence fell over them like death itself, when the last unfortionate souls scream faded in the forest. The chief and the few capable people trembled, they did not dare to make one step further. Fearful they peeked through the clouds. All they saw was white,  _white_  and something dark moving inside.   
  
\--------  
  
His darting eyes were fixed on the group of roughly twenty persons, his palm tightly closed around a stone knife. Even after time had stretched itself long enough, he was still amazed by the feeling of rushing blood through his veines. One foot in a borderless realm, the other back on worldy grounds, life left a bitter taste. He did take only a few of them, hoping to find the right one, but luck hadn't been on his side for a while now. Determined to change it, to find  _the one_ , he held himself back, hidden behind the carved monster-face. When the first few of his kin moved from the spot, he cowered low and followed. They wielded their weapons, howled, hissed and growled to corner the frightened flock. The children started to whimper, while the three elders who could be saved just stood in awe.   
  
"Stay together!", a big, charismatic man shouted. Their chief.   
  
He grinned, could almost smell the honor, if he'd get some of his mana. Just a bit, to strengthen him for what would come. Even though they saw their enemies, nothing could prepare them. One by one the creatures smashed their full bodies at their flanks, scattering them. A hunter stabbed one of them right into its visage, but on impact the pole exploded in hundret of splinters. A young womand with long, black hair felt her back grow cold again, as someone was taken.  
She did not want to look, she only heard screams departing.  
  
Tui'S orders went under and a tall monster ripped him off his feet. His torch went out. The mother did not see, what took her husband and where he was taken. She could hear him struggle. Fear to loose the one who turned her life upside down, made her hurry after them. What jumped out of the shadows with a deep snarl turned her blood into ice. Yellow glowing eyes, white teeth and fangs and a deep growl to shake her soul. She backed away, she forced herself to move, to run, while tears streamed down her face. 

A black sceme, one of those, cowered over him, viciously penetrating him. With all his strength he could gather, he rammed his fist in its visage - _CRACK-_  his middle hand shattered as well as the monsterface. Adrenaline would not tell him of his injury. Wood. These were masks. Under it he could see white lines of pointy teeth in a belligerent grin. It growled from deep down and claws hurled down on him. Black talons tore at the his toothchain. It cut deep in his neck, before the cord snapped.  

" _TUI!_ " Sinas desperate call signalized him, his family was still near, somewhere. Good and bad. He did not see, bis heart rampaging in struggle to survive and see another day. See his wife, his daughter, his son. His people. Thoughts which gave him new fury, made him rise, granted him strength to shift his weight and hurl it off him. While the screams for help faded in the night, chief Tui jumped to his feet and tasted his own blood. He stood alone. The forest was quiet, despite his own hasty breath. To avoid being jumped at from behind, he turned. The bushes snapped, as it rose again. All he saw were those piercing eyes, glowing shark-teeth in a mass of black, fusing with the surroundings. It stared right into his soul, when an echo of angry screeching found its way to their ears. It was not far behind them, they turned their heads. One second of carelesness was enough. All he saw was a vicious grin and darting eyes, as a hard thudd to the temple took his view.

\--------

She had waited patiently.  
Even with all the panic and trampling feet around her, she was not so tempted to jump, than when she had this sweet, fresh scent in her nose. She smelled their fear, it floated luring behind them like a trail. The humans had not seen her, for her coat was night. The others knew she was accompanying them on their hunt. She did not mind them. Soundless steps, she snuck, surrounded her prey, closer. It wailed in his mothers arms, but soon no more. She could taste their distress on her tongue. The black huntress bent her strong legs, readied herself to leap, when two two-legged figures interrupted her with their bitter fight. Startled she jumped too soon. Angered she revealed long, sharp fangs in a snarl and crossed eyes with her prey. Golden spheres hit small grey dots in the dark.   
  
The childs mother made a sound of frustration, before she, another female and a halfgrown male high-tailed off in one direction. Instandly she clawed in the earth, chased after them. Their scent too strong to hide, their bodies were too clumsy to escape. She'd take what she wanted. 

\--------

Sina's lungs rattled with every bruning breath she had to take. She, Ema and Nohea knew if they faltered or stumbled, they would die. She felt deaths cold breath in her neck and held Kaiko tightly pressed against her. Branches scratched her arms to shield his head, her face and graped after her hair, while unseen thorns stung her legs. They could hear the growling monster on their heels.   
"Nohea, get up!", she heard the pleading voice of Ema behind her. Sina hurled around, just a second to take a peek. The boy had fallen and was struggling to get back up. Behind them a snarling shadow, it's gleaming, bloodthirsty eyes fixed on _her_. Another rush hit her mind, when it jumped, ready to tear her to shreds. Suddenly the fog next to her gleamed and pulled her leg. Sina lost her balance, tripped out of the way, and the black-coated predator flew over her head-on into the bushes. Loud it crushed into the bushes, furiously snarling. 

Kaiko's soft throat was too hoarse to scream anylonger and she could hear _it_ wildy thrashing around. It wasn't over yet. The mother forced herself to her feet, the moment she saw the yellow eyes darting back at her. "This Way!", she managed to shout at those who were left and lead the way. Now some of the enviroment seemed familiar, they had to be close to Mauis hideout. But hope was what she didn't want to receive yet, not until she was sure nothing was after them anylonger. The earth took a steeply way, which made their escape harder to swallow.

Noeha was not crying anymore, he was too scared. He never had been more scared in all his twelve years. His knee was bleeding, his legs trembled and strained as he tried to keep up. Ema would not let go of his hand and almost pulled him the last steps onto more plainy grounds. Ony a few seconds were granted to them to catch their breaths. Sina checked if Kaiko was alright, beside being scared to death, and spied around. The fog was too thick to see through, even up here. The only thing she could make out was a lonely treestump with no branches. Something heavier than fear brought her to falter. She knew where they were, but it was not Mauis camp. She remembered the first time Moana had spoken about a glade with a single, uncarved totem. They had run in circles. 

"This- I don't understand!", she wheezed. "This doesn't make sense!"  
She had been so sure about the way she had lead them. She had known where they had been and where they had to go! At this moment, she was frozen, desperatly trying to put a finger on what had gone wrong. Ema and Noeha closed in and together they made it to the stump. 

"What do you mean?!", Ema breathed almost loosing her mind. "We Can't stAy here?!"  
A screaching roar tore the silence between them apart and echoed far. Sina widened her eyes as two shadows closed in through the mist. An ominous wind carried voices and in shock they stayed and listened. Only one word was repeated over and over like a chant. " _Ro'e. Ro'e. Ro'e._ " Dark pillars emerged from every direction. The sky spoke of dawn, as clouds granted a glimpse. Their pursuer was the first to burst into the thin light. Now she could see. It was a huge, black feline with fur as silken and beautiful as the night. The predator showed long, white fangs, as if showing what would kill them. Trembling the small group pressed themselves against each other and Sina looked down on her son. They were defenseless.   
  
She would not let it take him, would not watch her people die. She was the chiefs wife. She had to carry a burden too and she would do so with her head held high. Her lips were a thin, shuddering line, her face twisted and moist from tears. Sina made up her mind and slowly, gently she shoved Kaiko in Emas arm.  
  
"What are you doing?", the young woman's feint whisper was almost swallowed by Kaiko's protest. The mother did not response and stared down the animal. On silent paws it trailed around, waiting for an opening. "No.", the boy whimpered, when he understood what she was going to do. "No. No. No. Don't!"   
Sina had no means to hush him. Soon it would be over, she told herself. She thought back to the day Moana came home. Holding on to this memory, she gently pushed Ema and Noeha back. "When it has me, run.", she whispered under her breath.  
  
Sina lifted her chin up, closed her eyes. Despite the fearful faces watching her, she did one step, intensionally too fast. Vigorous the panther jumped. Time stood for a moment, the chant went on, until a tall shadow slammed its full weight into the beast. Sina felt a body pushing her hard to the ground. Two pairs of hands supported her, while horrible sounds out of Lalotai rang in her ears. Instinct and silence made her look.  
  
The animal screamed, hissed and gurgled, slashing it's claws at the one-armed human and tore deep wounds. Skin ripped, blood spilled, as the ground was spotted with blackish puddles. Her face was ripped into shreds and red blinded her sight. Iida would not let go. Not yet. With every scrap of strength she could gather, the huntress dug her fingers deep into the animals windpipe, feeling its larynx. It cracked, while her legs gave in to the cats weight. She bared the pain of her shredding body and suppressed any sound of weakness. As the injured woman was mauled down by the predator and her struggling came to an end, they were too paralyzed to move. Even to look away. Their friend layed in a spreading pool. Iida did not move. The feline panted and licked its muzzle, a growling residing in its throat. Its gaze spoke loud of its unsatisfyed hunger. 

" _Ro'e. Ro'e. Ro'e. Ro'e.",_ the chant started anew, but rather resitant. The animal struggled to focus. It coughed and blood dripped from its snout. Seemingly injuried, the panther seemed not to take any risks. One last hateful glare and it snuck away. She was nothing they wanted. Good for her. Sinas eyes were still fixed on Iida's lifeless shape. Every sound was numb to her and her breath was shaking.

It was clear to them it was over. No way out. One of the monsters moved. Sina could see the athletic shape hidden under a long coat of hair, attached to a broken mask. Under it was not the face of a monster, but a man painted in ash. He grinned widely like a shark, his teeth had been sharpened, while the chanting went on. Tied to the thin cord around his waist ung Tui's necklace. And by the gods, ripped. The world around her seemed to forget its colors, as a scalding pain flooded her from the inside and suffocated her. Shuddering it drove the last bit of air out of her lungs and left her heart sore. Numbness grew on her like a tumor and pulled her to the knees. 

" _Ro'e. Ro'e. Ro'e. _Ro'e. Ro'e. Ro'e!_ "_

  _Zzt!_ a last time the fog hissed at them. Ema's warning went under. Sina only saw a pair of piecing eyes in a mass of black. Cold hands pulled at her arms. In a blink of an eye her world forgot it should be morning soon. The first warm sunbeam drove the fog back inland and made its creatures follow. Ema and young Nohea were left on the plainy ground, with a blood soaked body, while Sina, nor her boy, were nowhere to be seen. 

 

\--------

Moana's nose pointed to the starstruck vortex above. Its eye had caught her attention just now. "What is that?"  
Maui followed her gaze only a brief moment and shook his head. She felt he knew about it and curiously she nagged him with one of her suspicious looks.  
"Not important now.", he muttered and raised his voice in a firm tone. "I'm not gonna lie, this will be dangerous."  
The young chieftess narrowed her glare. Thanks to their connection she felt a growing urgency in his heart, which mixed with her uncertainty. Like being thrown back and forth, she was too torn apart to respond. "Visiting a memory of an event is one thing, but visiting the memory of a dream is like walking on water.", he told her. Every following word made her eyes grow wider and scared her questions away."It's borders will always shift and if you touch them too long It can turn your brain into goo - that's why you must never let go of my hand! Understood?"  
As if she wanted to. Moana nodded, and tried to shake off her trembles.  
"And: Do not try to change anything!", the shape-shifter's voice left no space for undertones. "Whatever you might see!"  
She rolled her eyes around in wonder, but held her objections back. He surely had his reason to warn her about certain things and her mind was too broody to pick up a fight with him now. Plus, he had seemed off the whole trip. Maui would have grinted his teeth if they'd been in the waking world. The longer he stayed the harder it was to restrain his full, bright being from overwhelming her fragile state of mind. Ro'e would try to do the same, he feared. He felt her small ball of dread, spotted with a warm, caring color of worry. For him. It pounded hard against his walls, which held his own storm at bay. Moana could not only die facing his vengeful _ex_. Her very soul could be torn to shreds, fall between the worlds. She could disappear into the void, never to return to her origin. And all of it, because of his actions. Since their beginning, he had walked different paths than he had intended, and it had gained him another tattoo. It had been Moana who had taught him to care for the single beings more than for the mass. Thanks to her, his armor got stronger than ever before and how did he thank her for it? By letting her run through fire. Guilt hardened his face and tore at his insides. 

"Understood. ... ?", she said and askingly tilded her head. "Why, though?"  
"Later, lets get on with it.", he waved the subject away with his free hand. "You may begin, Curly."  
Moana sucked in thought air and looked to her feet. Like having to jump in a deep hole, she called upon her courage. While her right nervously fumbled around at his left, she carefully picked up on one dark strand forming in the fog. Chieftess Moana and the Demi-God flinched, as a flash shot through them like a spear. Moana was the eye of the storm, the foggy night exploded and pushed back the white mist. _'Don't let go.'_ , his voice echoed in her mind. Screaming noices of grinding sand made her core cringe and the more she listened, she heard disembled voiced. Young and old, screaming in terror. The young chief was once again caught up in her imagination, as visions of frightened faces appeared. Her people, torn apart, scattered and leaderless. Her family fleeing from a darkness. It all was so known to her and split her heart. Maui flinched and hissed, as his grip grew tighter. Not only to reasure her, but to prevent her from letting go. Until know she had fought the reflex to grap her head, cover her face.  
  
Hoarse voices shouted her name, threw insults and blamed her. They shared her pain, as the words ripped at her scared mind. She knew what was about to come.   
_" **I WILL HEAR YOU WEAP SOON!"**_ It roared far below, but so loud, it tore at their minds and paralyzed them. They fell into a deep sinkhole, while holding onto each other. Storms twisted the borders of sanity, a monstrous maw opened wide. " _Maui?!_ ", unsure what to do she screamed his name. She stared up to him, while he only watched.  
_-SNAPP!-_ Moana held on tight. She didn't see what happened, but she felt his spirit embracing her. It was like being carried away by the wind.   
  
Clouds made the sky grey.   
The shore had been quiet after their fight, Maui remembered. The poisonous green stench hovered over the rotting cadaver laying in the bay and around it stood a huntress, a _handsome_ Demi-God and their overprotective chieftess. Time stood. Moana caught her raspy breath and sunk down to her knee, her mind still thrown away by her inner turmoil. A puddle cooled her skin. Strangely it calmed her down. "Nuh-Uh!", came from above and Maui pulled her back to her feet.  
  
"Now's not nap-time! ... while dreaming ... "  
"What happened? How did we-", she huffed amazed, her legs still somewhat shaky.  
" _Me_ happened, after you lost your shit again.", he rumbled at her, while snatching a strand of hair to put it where it belonged.  
Moana smirked at him for it, but wondered if they were still in her mind. " ... So, we are where now?"  
"In our memory.", he answered, barely able to hide a certain smile. "Because we share it, I was able to pull us here."  
  
She did not dare to observe in the scene holding still on the spot, lots of steps far in the waterbet. Water cooled her feet. It came to her mind just now like sudden raindrops. Maui and she stood in puddles, touching in a small trickle in their middle. The chieftess was slow wrapping her thoughts around it. She had seen this picture before, but now she started to question it. Why?   
  
"Maui?", she started feint, but he already slumped away. As soon as he lifted is feet, the puddle already knew where it was going to land. Even her own steps were shadowed by water, where ever she stumbled. "Maui?", she asked a little bit louder. "Wait!"  
  
Maui had no explanation for the waterpuddles. He figured it might be because of the thin line of starlight between their hands, glittering now and then. Nonetheless, he didn't want to think about things like that now. He trailed a generous circle around the past shadows to get a good view. His big hand gestured her to follow, but she hesitated. She knew what was about to follow and it froze her, hissing voices only she could hear held her back. They warned her, not to look upon her friend getting hurt again.   
"C'mon!", Maui hurried her.  
"N-nah- ... I can perfectly see from he-", one moment she scrambled there, the next she stood right with the Demi-God. " _Woah!?_ "  
Grinning he nearly inhaled the stupid face she made. "HOW did you do that?!"  
"The power of imagination.", he hissed mysteriously and a small rainbow shone between his hands.   
"Silly.", she chuckled and took his hands down, poofing the rainbow. Her smile was only short lived, as the dark scene to her left grew difficult to ignore.  
"You're ready?", Maui read in her face and tasted her uncertainty.   
"No.", she stated fast and clear.   
"Nonsense!", the shape-shifter barked and placed her infront of him, turned to the scene. "Don't miss a scene!"  
Moana squirmed under his strong grip and bit her lower lip. She could not raise her head, or wanted to peek through the curtain of hair. The firery ball in her chest burned Maui too, otherwise his grip would've been gentler. His firm gaze layed on the pale shapes flanking the monster. He could see himself and his chieftess surrounded by the color of desire, while a curious tone shrouded Iida. The huntress was glowing in a silvery shimmer. Equal to the mana imprinted on his earthly skin, the story her people had spun was a shielding spell. Her skin gleamed like covered in diamond dust. " _Well, well, well._ Take a look at this, Curly!", he summoned her. When she finally listened to her curiosity and her eyes flickered under the veil of black hair, she understood what Maui meant. Despite the guilt knawing at her heart, she slowly stepped closer.   
  
"What are we seeing?", she asked and turned to her big companion.   
"Did I forget to mention that this realm reflects everything happening in the living world?", Maui glared at the scene, which started to move. Like puppets of misty clay, slowly waking from their slumber. Every change made their borders like moist tapa.   
  
_Moana's hand opened and reached for Maui's left. The Demi-God slowly lowered his gase to the mud. Iida sunk into a crouched position, while a pale face stared down on the monster. The huge mass, a hissing shadow, towered above and empty eyes peeked behind it._  
  
Nothing warned them, as the time folded infront of their eyes and disturbed their minds. Everything shifted between vision and a void, making it hard to watch. A small beam of light flickered and shocked their cores. "Maui!?", Moana shouted and clinged to his hand. Just when the memory went on, like nothing happened. 

 _Iida's blood painted the water crimson. ..._  
  
Moana tore her eyes away and buried them in his shoulder, as pain fed on her. The Demi-God sighed, while carefully checking their surroundings.  
The sight of his friend laying in her own sap carved a deep cut in his heart.  
  
"What was that?", she panted muffled down.   
"The reason for your nightmares.", Maui spat out, but faced her with an excited grin. "Did you see that?! I had a theory and I was _right!_ "  
The Demi-God straigthened himself and seemed to glitter golden. "I mean, Of course I was!"  
  
Moana mooned up to him slightly confused.  
"Maui!", she tried to wake him and waved golden glitter from her shoulder. "Right about what?!"  
Maui's arms slumbed back down. "Honestly, sometimes I think you're holding us back on purpose for more screen-time.", he mumbled slightly annoyed and turned back what they just had seen, just to show it again, but slower. What they had witnessed on that day and what the realm of dreams reflected were two different things. As the massive shadow opened its jaws, to rip Iida into pieces, it didn't only do so in the living world. Here, its shadow went on, ripping a silvery mist out of life. Moana saw strands of light, resembling two hands being parted, as monster took victim and drew a smoky trail deep into the jungle.   
  
"There!", Maui pointed at it. "Don't tell me you blinked this time or somethin'!"  
"No, I saw.", Moana needed a moment to gather. "So ... The stories about her were true ... "   
"Every story has truth in it!", Maui bolstered himself. "Appears our friend is a two-spirit! ... _Was._ "  
  
Amazed Moana stared at the body lying in the sand, unsure how to feel. It froze her, watching herself twisting her face in a distressed visage and panicly tending to the huntress. It had shattered the ground she had been standing on. The pain was still near and now swam around her like predatory fish, waiting to take a bite. Moana tried to ignore the shadowy clouds hovering above, as well as the sorrowful gaze Maui gave her. She had seen the eyes, peeking out of the mist and she already knew Ro'e had been responsible for the eel's resurrection. Slowly she trailed along the way where the shades had disappeared. Deep into the forest it had dragged Iida's soul.   
"Can we still safe her?", she wondered loud and gained Maui's attention. She felt his uneasy attend to sort his thoughts, his stingy pain already gave her an answer. Even if there would be a way, and he was sure that there was, it probably was already too late. "... I'm sorry, Curly.", he began gloomy.  
"Usually people die from an attack like this. There may be a part of her spirit left inside her body, but ... ", his low voice rumbled next to her and his hand found her shoulder again. " ... But we can still avenge her, that's for sure!"  
The teine lowered her head, busy maintaining the stormy clouds swirling her hair into the air.  
"C'mon. Let's cover some more and get out of here."  
  
She felt a friendly nudge in her back, that threw her off her feet. With a loud wheezing she landed into her softening puddle. Her hair covered her sight and muttering, she rowed with her arms to get back up. A silhuette reflected in the water crossed her mind. Moana froze. With only one sphere she looked up and witnessed her father rushing past her. It was not him though who caught her attention. It was a silver fog slowly following his path. With every step it took more of a shape. The young chieftess lost her mind, while she jumped to her feet. Slowly the white ghost walked straight at her. It was not too bright to look at, but its flowing featues made it hard to grasp any facial features, except for his gender. Only his eyes revealed a sadness and determination, which strangely seemed familiar to her. _"Iida?"_ , her mind asked right away, but she only gained a silent look as an answer and a felt shake of his head. A voice, hardened by pain, echoed between her ears. _" Leave."_ , the ghost commanded.   
The chieftess frowned and prepared a response, when faster than thoughts he seized her arm, overshadowing her. _"Don't Listen To Him In The End!"_ , he roared inside her, stirring her core. Shaken her legs gave in to the visions it showed to her. She saw her people, hunted by nightmares, her settlement destroyed and the huge, ancient flottilla in flames. Pain shot through both of their hearts, as she felt the sheer horror her family experienced. Just as her own.  
"Moana?!"  
Maui shot out of the unknown to her side.  
The water to their feet began to boil under the sheer heat luminating from the ghost.  
_"Who the FUCK are you supposed to be?!"_ , Maui roared his thoughts at it, like wind weakening a dangerous fire.   
"Maui, No!", Moana poured. "Don't attack him! I think he's helping us!"  
"You don't know th-!"  
"He just warned me! We need to wake up!", she cut him off sharply. " ** _I_** need to wake up! "  
"Warned you about what exactly?", he barked at her, slightly irritated by her furious tone.   
"It's our people! They are in danger!", wildy she gestured her hands around. "Wake me up! _Now!_ "  
"Woah! No, Easy there!", he tried to calm her down and caught her hands. "Remember what I told you about this place? It can trick you into believing it's real!"  
Then the Demi-God threw one threatening look at the ghost still trailing around nearby.  
  
_"And You! Fuck off! Feed on someone else's fears!"_  
"You also told me this place reflects _everything!_ ", Moana protested.  
Maui checked on Moana, trying to find a notion of what she felt. But her walls were hard as Tamatoas shell.  
"Listen to me, Butter-Cup. ", his rumbling chest soothed her aching heart. "It is probably just your worst case cenario!"  
  
What he said did make sense to her, but faught a bitter war with her instincts. Had it been a trick to lure her into a neverending nightmare? Her heart told her _no._    
"Trust me! Whatever you see here you can't prevent from happening.", Maui said, just holding her and padding her back. " Time has no meaning here."  
  
He thought she had listened to him. Why would he have doubts as the DemiGod Maui? But Moana was paralyzed by words the ghost had spoken only to her. It had shaken her to the core. It had whispered in a feint voince, hushed by a boy.  
  
_"I have seen beauty in darkest places. I have seen the well to the dream of time. Go deeper beyond the end and wake up born anew by starlight, so gold washes away the void."_  
  
It's echo drew a long line after and chilled her breath. The puddle froze their feet.   
"What the-?! Getting cold feet again?!"  
"I'm Done here!", Moana's mind hissed at him like startled snakes, but she was also begging. " _Please_ wake us up!"  
  
Maui could feel her confusion and a huge amount of frustration. She was not even interessted in trying anymore.  
"Alright. Let's call it a night, then.", the shape-shifter huffed, but then his cheeky grin returned. "Remember, the first time we shook hands?"   
He saw it twinkle in her eyes, when the grey and threatening mist formed a beautiful firery evening sky on the wide ocean. They stood on the canoe she learned wayfinding on and her nostalgia warmed them.   
  
_"First we get my hook!"_  
_"Then save the world! Deal?"_  
_"Deal!"_  
  
Their echoes went on, while embers burned around her cheeks. Back then they had no idea where their journey would take them. Through a deep friendship into a shared heart and soul. The small puddles became one and she dared a peek deep into his eyes. Would it be so dangerous to stay a little bit longer? Just long enough to do what she wouldn't be able to do in the waking world. For a short moment her face gleamed in a sharp curiosity and her eyes flickered down his torso. Maui still held her hand, ready to stop her from acting too drastic. He felt it, her wondering leer tickled his stomach, but this was not how the memory ended. Too late Moana realized what was going on, he threw her over his shoulder into the blue.   
  
She hit the water and sunk into darkness, but this time no ocean shot her back on a canoe. Moana widened her eyes and sucked in the fresh air of morning, like taking the first breath of life. Disorientated and with a dizzyness she never had before, she hurled around. Light and a strong smell burned in her eyes, her stomach twisted. Like a chief, she managed to hold back her curls, before she told the bushes next to her what she had eaten.  
" _Ouh_ ... Yep, these are the herbs. ...", Maui growled awkwardly touched by her gurgling. " I told you to skip supper!"  
He was still sitting infront of the campfire, where he had started the ritual.  
" ... At least you missed the embers."


	23. Emi o' polu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Emi o' polu" means "Loss of blue"
> 
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> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::18+:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
> \- smut ;D  
> \- first time
> 
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> 
>  

The white, sunless sky strained her eyes. Moanas head was spinning.  
Her tired shell and the weight of her pounding heart felt strange, even though she used to know nothing else. She almost missed flying through her dreams and relive those wonderous days of her past. Now they were nothing but fading shreds, flashing before her eyes. Those echoes of what she had seen made no sense. Confused she tried to concentrate on her breathing. The moist air didn't make the sour taste on her gums any better. She moaned and whiped over her mouth, trying to ignore this stupid stare of his. Saying, _'Told 'ya!'_.

"What kind of herbs are those?!", she coughed.  
"The right ones.", he explained in a cute voice like talking to a pet. "You just never listen.", he padded her head.

"Cut it out, Maui.", the young woman shoved his big hand away, but suddenly Moana stared like being snatched from the ground. _'Our people! My family!'_    
" ... What we saw ... Was it real?", Moana panted horrifyed."Was it all real?"  
She knew she coud not hide her suspicion behind careful words, but she did control herself. The Demi-God was not comforted though by knowing some of her menace was for him. Why he did not know, so her storm only hit on confusion. His pause made her glare even more tense and pushed him to find an suitable answer and ease her temper.   
"Define  _real._ ", he requested, leering at her, but she didn't answer.  
"I ... I need to-", the chieftess stumbled to her feet too fast for her swirling head to cope. Her stomach didn't seem to like her temper. Instandly her legs gave in.  
The Demi-God held his paw under her to prevent her from kissing the island." _Whops!_ ", he huffed.   
"The only thing you need to do now is to _sit_!", he placed her on her bottom and held her like a doll. And like such toy, her head was too heavy. She collapsed into his side, yet her spirit would not let it go. It was like it was calling her, urging her. Checking on her people was first priority to her, then she'd finally go after Ro'e. She didn't feel that different from before her adventure in  _Lala-Tai_ , but she could not live like this anylonger. She had seen how Ro'e operated, how she faught and what Moana most likely had to expect from her. This dirty, jealous witch would not hesitate one moment and run over innocent lives to get what she wanted. Ro'e was a lunatic, who had her nose too deep in powers she could not handle. And for what? Was she trying to become a false god? Slowly her spheres crawled up to her big friend. Was she just trying to win him back? Moana's eyes darkened. Ro'e had targeted her and her family the moment they had set foot on the island. Was Ro'e trying to keep her away from him? Jealousy would've painted her aura green and she blew her nostrils.  
  
"Here, _frog-breath._ ", came from above and he held a coconut cup under her nose.    
_Water!_ Greedy she flushed her throat clean and sucked in every sweet drop. "Easy there!", he giggled.  
  
Maui felt her urge to run back to her family and he couldn't blame her. Standing eye to eye to ones own fears for the first time always has been confusing. A mere mortal would panic and take action to prevent the horrors from happening, but would walk right into their arms in the process. "Relax, Moana.", he purred and placed his wide hand on her back. "It'll pass in a few moments. Take deep breaths."   
"I can't just sit around, Maui.", she stated explicit and attempted to stand. "It is almost noon and I have a bad feeling."  
"Of course you do!", he snapped, slightly mourning the alone-time they could've had instead.  
"Every nightmare has a bitter aftertaste when waking up!". The way her sorrow gleamed affirmed him even more so. "What we saw was real, yes, but only in your mind. They were just manifestations of your fears."  
Moana stared up to him, her eyes a reflection of her torn mind. She inhaled deeply and forced herself to think about it. She couldn't deny, what he said made sense to her and he was not lying. Both her hands found her scalb to stop her skull from buzzing. Moana rolled her eyes and let out a big huff.  
"Okay!", she threw her arms around and slumbed back down.   
"There you go.", Maui murmured and nudged her gently, before leaning back to relax.  
Moana crossed her arms. "I guess!" 

Moana allowed a small sigh to escape her lungs. Despite the unmeasurable distance they had walked, the journey had passed in their sleep like nothing had happened. Shades of their shared dream still sang songs of unspoken alternatives for them to be together. Without breaking any rules. She never would've guessed she'd wish to fall asleep. Was it so wrong that she wanted to hide in her dreams and happy memories? Feel the closeness of his spirit once more? Moana couldn't prevent her eyes from sneaking over to his massive body. Lower her gaze wandered until she crossed his leaf-skirt and spotted an old, hidden strap of tapa under all the green. Instandly a teasing image ellbowed its way to the surface and would not be shoved asside so easily. She wondered how it would feel like being with him. Would it change her? Never before had she been touched by anyone, especially not like he had. 

Maui watched her facial circus. At first he thought his mind played tricks on him. But no, the proud chieftess was actually checking him out! Obviously she was thinking naugthy stuff and probably had trouble hiding it. _'Well, well, well, Curly!'_   It only fed his ego, made it fat. A broad grin appeared, wide enough to be spotted from the moon.  
  
"Feel better now?", he purred mockingly and posed more inviting, his mane falling down his shoulders and framing his rough features. Tiny wiggled his brows at Momo and gained a shy strike with her oar. Chieftess Moana felt her burning cheeks and frustrated she turned her gaze towards _nothing._    
  
"Yes.", she breathed, tugging around at her curls.   
"Are you hungry?", he asked plainly, hoping to change the subject and scrambled through the small piles of food. "I could cook something for you."  
This last line was not planed. It just stumbled after his question, like a clumbsy toddler trying to escape his parents. Very slowly Tiny tilted his head at him and even so slowly rose his brows. His face went not as pale as Tiny had expected, instead his cheeks went twice as red after. Cooking for the chief? It was practically like asking for a second chance. Wouldn't it lead to her staying longer?  And couldn't _this_ lead to _more_? As if he copied her nervousness, his brow twitched and he curled his lips. Silence.   
  
Moana still stared at nothing and kicked her emotions to press them back behind her walls. It didn't work. She could not even concentrate on his question. Still, it wouldn't fade, not move away and rumble below her belt. It didn't make it easier for her to focus on the task at hand. Her thoughts were still twisting and making her question reality. With this growing tension inside, her body longing to be touched by his strong hands, she was even more torn. At least she wasn't scared anymore, though a feeling of dred remained. 

"Moana?", he turned to look at her and found her staring at the dying embers with far away eyes.  
"Sorry, what?"  
  
Finally he got her attention and held up a papaya, not to have to repeat himself. She nodded and caught the flying fruit with her right palm.   
Slightly amused over how she grinningly admired the unexpected skill of her hand, he slumbed back next to her. Warm smiles stroked her face and he played with the thought of leaving a kiss on her cheek. Not to be spotted while minding her beauty, he called upon the image of her bare chest. His gaze wandered down her neck and collarbone. Her copper skin, soft like silk. He never had realized. Not until now. The Demi-God stared down on his closest friend since ages, like looking at a perfect sculpture of himself.

A short sunray peeked out of the white sea above and a sudden, thick rain started to fall. Her curly coat was soaked instandly by liquid gold, while his raven locks only got more silky. _"BKAW!"_ She squealed startled out of her skin, he burst into laughter and both withdrew under the dense shelter between the large boulders. Under his constand giggling Moana slumbed down again, a wet blanket of black hair covering her face. 

" _Did You just-?!_ ", he squaked, holding his chest.   
" _ **NO?!**_ ", she barked, throwing her curls back and revealing hot cheeks and evil stares.   
"Told 'ya she's a chicken!", he giggled at Tiny. "C'mon! Count the score! _Count the score!_ "  
Mini-Maui had a blank expression in his wide eyes and poofy cheeks, holding back his own laugh. "Go! Do It!", the shape-shifter snipped against his chest and flipped the score-board in Tiny's side. "C'mon, Buddy!", he encouraged him loudly. "Do it!" Tiny rose his hook and scratched half a lline, next to her fresco. " _DO IT!_ "A stylistic drawing of her face.   
" ** _YUSH!_** ", Maui cheered, doing a decent victory dance.   
Moana watched him amused and pressed the water out of her hair. "You didn't even DO anything!", she said humorously.   
" _BKAW!_ ", he outwitted her.   
"Shut your beak!", she demanded and playfully slapped at him.   
"I'm only trying to make contact!", the witt-shifter joked.   
"I have the answer right here, you-!!", her nickname for him was overdroned by his cries, as she hurled her fists at him.   
"Moana stop!", he begged her, still far from calming down. "Watch your blood pressure or you'll lay an egg!"  
The chieftess threw herself at him and pinned him down, slapping him in short bursts on the head.   
"Will you stop?", she asked him, pressing her lips shut.   
No answer, only his rolling eyes revealed he still had one to go. Moana threw her fist in the air, but stopped, when he flinched.   
"Stop!"  
"Okay."  
"Yes?"  
"Yeah."  
  
Moana threw warning beams down on him, hiding her playful demeanor like a chief. One last time she dared to stab him with a pointing finger, when a rumble rolled over the firnament. The Demi-God sat up slowly and together they watched the liquid gold pouring down. Warm mist of morning was washed away.  
"The gods couldn't be more obvious.", he mumbled to her with a reasuring smile. "Everything is as it should be."   
Moana didn't respond to that and tended to her long curls, trying to fumble the water out. She was still shaken by what she had seen and it was difficult for her to grasp reality. Maybe he was right afterall. Maybe she just wasn't trusting him enough. Cooling orbs of light hung in the air and glittered warm on her skin, calming her down slowly. As if she was open enough she just now realized his inviting warmth. Shy eyes flickered over to him and away, before she tugged her hair behind her right ear. 

Only Tiny might have known what Maui was brooding about. Unlike his chieftess, he remembered every single moment from behind the veil. He had wanted to show her more, when this spirit of the future had interfered. Rarely he had seen such a bright fuzzball, but he had known they excited. Or it just was one of those shifting monsters, hiding behind masks and lying about their true origin. The spirit had seemed to be a soul of importance or had tried to fool them. Maybe. Not yet known or named, but already threatened and seeking aid in the hands of a 18-yearold? The faceless, silvery shadow had managed to contact Moana from far behind the void. That's how he knew, she was destined for greatness, or at least an important part in the chain of humanity's mana. Sudden proud for her warmed his chest and prickled in his cheeks, when his eyes went to the ground. A white, elegant flower beamed out of the gloom. Soon its intact blossom resided in his nimble hands, without moving too much muscle. A gentle, but ambicious smile on his lips, he placed the flower behind her right ear. Moana stoppped breathing, when he faught his attempt to stroke down her curls. It matched her eyes and pierced his heart, as he watched her curious, but hesitant fingers feeling the petals. Shy gazes crossed, when they felt their hearts sink. 

  
  
After and before the ceremony she hadn't worn a flower behind her right ear and not smiled _happily_ , signalizing she was free to woo. The Demi-God was sure it was because of him. Who would think otherwise? Her memory of the puddles in her dream flashed before his eyes. The puddles had connected them like a small ocean, marking them for eternity. Even if she'd chose another, nothing could tear their spirits apart. Neither the fog, nor death. Maui made an effort not to sigh too loudly. All his lifetime he never had payed attention to the humans and their families, until Sina had accepted him with open arms. Not once he had wasted a blink to wonder about the small things and how he'd manage a family of his own. How silly it sounded to a warrior like him. Maui tried to ignore his stupid pride, but at the same time he scolded himself. That's what he got for being in contact with the humans so long. He started to care for the single being since he met Moana. If he decided to settle for real this time, he would want to try it with her. Could it be called fate? Moana had grown tall like her father and so rapidly, that sometimes he couldn't see the _8-yearold_ anymore. Which was a good thing, he guessed.

Chieftess Moana had similar thoughts on her mind, though they were much darker. Once she would regain her strength, she'd plan an expidition into the jungle. She was sure Iiida had tried to tell her something the night of her awakening. _'Go deep.' ,_ she heard her voice as clear as day and believed she should start in the _deep_ caverns, whe the eel resided.  _'What if you don't come back this time?'_  , a silent voice asked and held her a moment. Moana listened carefully to her anxiety and let it take her on a stroll.

What if she died? Moana kept on fumbling around her right fingers, while the tingling sensation in her hair just wouldn't fade away. An old rule said a woman should smile when being achknowledged as a grown woman. Yet she could only sit and stare, listen to the blood flushing hot under her cheeks. Could she truly chose another over him? She knew his capablilities weren't just empty bragging. If she'd chose Maui it would not only ease her longing spirit, but strenghten the roots for future generations. Even her father had managed to see it. This tension between her and him grew sharper, as she was drawn to feel his skin on hers. Fantasies of what might be flashed before her inner eye which formed an acid-like twine blocking her lungs. She swallowed hard, but it wouldn't be moved. Her right hand closed around the flower in her hair when she made a decision. This wasn't about if she  _could_ , it was about if she wanted to live without him. The young woman just followed her instincts. First hesitant and stiff, she turned to him like she would face the unknown only armed with a sceptical frown. He watched her. Watched, while she snuck on her knees infront of his strong self and timidly erased the flower out of her picture. Half confused, half fascinated the shape-shifter's eyes narrowed. He might have asked in a witty way what was going on, if she had stopped doing whatever she was about to do.

Since she woke she had a nagging notion sitting in her neck. The sun could've shone brighter and she'd still feel an icy huff on her ear. When she thought of Ro'e, it got stronger and whispered of battles to come. It wasn't like she hadn't done such things before. Facing a great evil and inescapable death and no idea what to expect. But this time it was personal. Her dearest friend, her family and the man she loved were in danger and nothing would stop her now from keeping them from harm. If she truly would perish trying, then at least she wanted them, as lovers, to remember something precious.

Hushed eyes flickered unbelieving as her tender hands tugged at the strap of her top. Wary not to make any rash movements she pulled the tapa under his widened stare away. Shy she tried to look into his eyes. Maui was frozen to the tips of his hair. His mind screamed to stop staring at ... _Them._   Thinking a _them_ alone made his heart pump lava through his veines and melted the ice down to his loins. The Demi-God's shocked reaction rattled her. What was she doing here?! He was a Demi-God, not a petty summer adventure. Awkwardly touched and anxious, she raised a hand to cover her torso. Was something wrong with her? Moana drowned in embarrasment, when he moved. His gentle fingers touched her cheek. 

Their lips found eachother, careful like a mothwing. While her heart turned loose, his fingers trailed down her face, down her neck. It left a tingling sensation on her skin and send hot excitement down her spine. Maui's touch wandered deeper below her collarbone, wrapped her in ice and melted her inside. She had her eyes closed, did not dare to look. The shape-shifter paused for a moment to take a glimpse upon her timidity. Big hands framed her face.  
  
" _Moana._ ", he breathed her name softly on her lips. He was so eager to feel them again, but his eyes were filled with worry. "Are you sure?"  
How he whispered her name covered her in chills, made it hard to breath. She did not dare to speak and chewed on her lower lip. A well thought-over, but shy nod was all she managed, but all he needed. Waiting in fascination and fear of what was about to come, Maui started nibbling at her neck. Those huffing sounds coming from her made him break into flames. He was as excited as she and he made no effort to hide it behind one of his many masks. His lips drew a line she could only follow in her mind and placed dry kisses as he drank her sweet scent. 

Moana was loosing control, she could not move, not think. She was hypnotized by the lines his mouth left on her skin and her head danced with a mixture of excitement and fear. Impatiently she shifted closer, eager to feel his body. The moment he wrapped one arm around her to pull her close, she felt him gently cupping her breast. Electrifyed it lured tiny moans out of the young, untainted woman. She felt helpless when his kisses went over her bosom. Sucking in shuddering breaths, she tilted her head back and dared to take a small peek at him, before pressing her eyes shut. Nervousness pumped blood into her face and made her numb. 

Maui forced himself to stop thinking. He had wanted to leave her, break her heart as soon as it became too serious. But now he couldn't, he was too far. Too far gone and too tight intwined in her story to leave her behind. His heart jumped heavy against his chest. Was this truly happening? Was it still the girl who had dragged him by the ear back then? This beautiful and proud creature in his lab suddenly seemed so innocent and fragile and still made his blood boil. He huffed hot breaths on her chest and returned to her lips. He felt it throbbing beneath his leafes, and she did too. Maui could tell by the way she stiffened. He was aware she never had been with a man. Even though he didn't seem like it, it worried him. He did not want to hurt her or to scare her away. Staying careful - while carrying his size and being with a virgin - was a new challenge. 

Slowly his broad hand slit down her side, feeling the curves of her hips and waist, only to push the tapa skirt up her thigh. Driven by lust, his fingers moved between her legs, drawing teasing circles and leaving her frozen. Finally she wrapped her arms around his maned neck and held him close. The young woman widened her thighs, daring him to move his hand to her center. When Maui shifted both of them in a more comfortable position - one hand under her bottom and the other fumbling between his thies - she knew it couldn't be long now from losing her innocence. She felt is warm skin, the trophy-necklace and wished they would never part again. Her heart skipped a beat and was wrapped in fear, but at the same time she was more than ready to. This huge and rough idiot, in all his boldness was now all she needed.

The shape-shifter held her beneath his mass, not sure if it was truly the right moment or if he was the right guy. Touching her before her wedding night was tapu, still she threw it all to his feet. The last thought of disappearing out of her life was left for dead, when he sunk one finger inside her. A numb beat jerked through her body and was followed by nothing. No pain, but his gentle fingertips stroking her knot. Moana winced, a surprized noise escaped her throat. ' _That's it?_ ', a silent voice inside asked. This small thing was what the families warned their daughters about? Smiling at herself how silly she had been, ice shot through her body. Huffing her eyes met his eager gaze, as he let his fingers run free. Wheezing sounds she never did before escaped her parted lips and held the Demi-God in a wild spell. Maui crouched over her petite figure, kissed her like she was his sun and moon and spread her legs apart. He shifted once more, before stroking her ear with a whisper.  
  
" _Relax._ ", he huffed feintly and caressed her neck with soft lips. It made her shiver. The first time he entered her she stopped breathing and held herself close to him. He pushed himself slowly, but still somewhat sore inside her. Sharply Moana sucked in the moist air and moaned in his crook. Who thought silk was soft, never touched her skin. Never had something else flattered his senses more, but being with her. He smelled her curls, have they always been so fragrant? Those cute sounds ringing in his ears covered him in burning ice. His desire was strong and urged him to sink into it. Groaning and tensly, he fought it, he would not defile her more than he already did. Maui ran the tip of his tongue over her shoulder and felt her trembling, twitching. Her heart pounded up to her ears, when their bodies clinged to each other and billowed like floating in waves. He filled her all the way in, stretched her while moving. Moana bit her lower lip, but loud moaning was pressed out anyways. She dug her fingertips deep in his back, when her own ecstasy roared in her throat. She wanted him. Wanted to be as close to him as possible. At this point she completely let herself go. In her flush of senses she opened her mind and soul, inviting him in. The Demi-God did not hesitate to enter. Both could not describe how completed they felt as soon as their spirits kissed for eternity.

Maui paused and dove deep into her eyes. She was so beautiful, just like this moment they shared. Together their spirits seemed to celebrate in a unexpected harmony. They were completely synchrone. Like two lakes forgetting their borders, chieftess and Demi-God were freed from all burdens. They were sky and earth, land and sea. Opposing forces, and yet part of a whole. The way he handled her flawed, but perfect body, was like he wanted to remember every corner. It tasted so sweet. Strong, demanding palms stiffened under her upper thigh and dug their strong fingers in her flesh.

She did not know if it was his burning core, or hers, but it rumbled deep inside both of them. Hot fire grew below her belt and tension made her stiff. The noises, the decent smell. The sounds he made while moving his hips. It all stoked the blazing storm, until it broke free. Firery waves ran over her entire shape.  
" _Look at me._ ", wheezing Maui demanded. Lust took her apart, all she did was obey and locked her eyes with him. Spinning senses and a white noise blinded her third eye. It shook her and carried her voice in loud moans into the morning. Shortly after the tension in his face went over his muscles and she could feel him jerking inside. In deep growls he expressed his own climax and pressed himself deeper for one last time. All out of breath, the rough man shuddered as his muscles gave in to his own weight and buried her under him. Moana gasped for air and blew his locks from her face and her tired arms fell from his flanks to the ground. 

Panting the huge, strong man ontop of her needed a few moments to gather. Once he did, he pushed himself up to check on her. Wild, raven locks dangled from his shoulders and framed a worried expression. Dazzled by how her sight blinded him, his not needed words retreated. The chieftess' face was all red and blood throbbed under her skin. Despite the gall sting between her thighs she felt amazing. Nice and relaxed and _new._  Strangely, though the rush of lust died, what was left was the feeling of being complete. Like all her empty spots were suddenly filled with light. Moana could tell what they shared wasn't ordinary. They weren't only lovers, but meant to spend their time together for many lives to come. 

When his bright love greeted her mood, she found her cheek covered in soft kisses. A shy giggle snuck out and she sighed, shutting her eyes. She didn't need to see to know he was smiling too. She felt it, like a bright beam in her mind. Like stars. Stars? ' _You need water and wind to follow the stars._ ' 

How foolish it had been of him to have believed he could've cut himself loose from her. From the very day on to this moment, it all had been written in time. Simply fascinating how clear it suddenly seemed. Maui didn't know a Demi-God was able to experience this kind of unity. A god had more than just _a soul_ , so finding a mate capable of completing it was nearly impossible. Even though he had tried to distance himself from mortality, had his soul been human all along? It didn't really matter to him anymore. How she looked up to him, just to console him through his mind, was all he needed now. Maui did not dare to speak and wrapped her hand into his. The promise he had tied around their fingers tingled under her skin as if it fell asleep. Tired Moana nestled her forehead against him and sighed into his broad chest. For the very first time the call inside her was quiet and had left an inner peace, she just now started to examine. Almost as if she reached a milestone of her existance. A feeling most dying people would want to experience before going on, she could imagine. Funny how the thought of death was suddenly not an uncomfortable one for a change. 

It was still raining when the Demi-God stretched his limbs and returned to looking at his chieftess. _His_ chieftess. He could not hide this jubilant smirk of his, while Moana huffed exhausted and tried to gather her stilted legs back to their former state. Straight. After she tugged her skirt down, she finally could relax and proclaimed it in a deep sigh.  " ... Guess this settles it.", she said suddenly out of the blue.   
"I know, right?", he only hoped to know what she spoke of and another nagging thought crossed his mind. Awkwardly touched he thought about his former behavior and how he had treated her beautiful body. His grin weakened, but did not disappear and he felt his _everything_ blushing. " ... Do you. .. I mean. .. Was I-", Maui started rambling, but was cut off by her seizing his face and a passionate kiss. Startled his big heart skipped a beat and he sighed.  
"I am fine.", she said quietly right after their lips parted and found the proud warrior mooning at her from beneath. 

Like caressing her with fascinated spheres, he rose a big paw of his and stroke her curls behind her ear. Moana nestled her face in his palm. Words danced on his tongue, he was not ready yet to set free yet. Weren't those supposed to come first and not after their first intercourse?   
" ... Is something the matter?"  
The loud beating of his heart was interrupting his concentration and guilt sealed his mouth shut. His gaze went lower, as if he tried to track down the lines he went with his tongue. He could still taste the salt on her skin and the smell of her hair was ever so fragant. In his time he had seen tropical beauties, but no woman had ever been so fair like her. Maui felt like he did not know every part of her appearance well enough. Yet again something seemed to be off about the picture he was admiring and he started to stare. He checked again. Face - those beautiful eyes, check. Long, black curls, check. Neck, silky copper skin, check. Not to forget _those two_. He almost lost himself and would've loved to be seduced by her once more. Slowly, he felt blood returning to his loins and forgot why he had started to check her out in the first place. 

"Maui?", concerned she asked once more and followed the hint of his eyes. Nothing seemed any different, except for the absence of a certain color. Her necklace! It smacked her on the nose like a whipping branch and she sat up in a hiccup. "Oh, no!"  
Curls were thrown around when she turned her head from one direction to another. No sign of blue. Moana cursed and jumped to her knees, strambling through her tapa.  
"No, no, no."   
"What is it?", he asked while he watched her checking possible spots again and again.   
"My necklace.", ice made her hasty words sound calm.   
"... Huh. I thought somethin' was missing.", he said idly and kept an eye out, if he maybe spotted it.   
  
"You knew?", Moana turned to him with growing anger and stiffened shoulders. "And you didn't think about telling me?"  
The Demi-God frowned. "I'm sorry, but I was kinda distracted, you know?"  
The young woman turned her back on him, putting all her senses into finding her grandmothers heirloom. "I know."  
"By the way!", he added. "Don't look at me, when you lose your stuff!"   
  
She didn't response to that and covered her chest, while franticly searching the ground. She shoved jaws and bowls asside to see if her most precious possession slipped somewhere between. Moana didn't seem to remember the last time she actually had achknowledged it being there. Since Talas passing a few years ago, she had worn it with pride. If she had lost it somewhere in the jungle at night, it would've been lost to her forever. Panic made her fearce, then the nightmare crossed her mind. The shred of an image, a dark scene where a black beast had torn at the necklace returned and it threw her insides upside down. As everything came back, Moanas gaze went sharp. It cut through his nature, like he used to split boulders with his hook. The feeling of dred made itself visible again and even kicked Maui's skull.

The moment he tried taking a peek behind her facade, she isolated her soul from him like slamming her gates shot. It startled him, as if she just slapped him.   
"I'll better be off, my family may wonder where I am.", she said and straightened her spine.   
"Moana, wait!", a demi-urgency in his tone made her stop. "I have something for you ... "

  
She crossed his eyes, before they hushed away to a long wrap of tapa lying next to his feet. But she didn't want to know and not stay any moment longer. She already had wasted enough time and leered at the sky like scolding it for the bad weather. The white clouds were spotted in a dark grey and still whispered of thunder.  
"Later!", her incuriousness cut through him like ice. The shape-shifter's brow twitched and off she went into the pouring rain.

 

 


	24. Moehewa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Moehewa" means 'nightmare'
> 
> ' An unpleasant dream which evokes feelings of fear or horror.'

White smoke and pale faces as far as she could see. Not knowing where she was, nor how she got here and where she and her people were taken to, all she could do was following their tracks. The little bundle in her arms had stopped wailing out of exhaustion hours ago. Poor little boy, he slept safe and sound in her arms. Sina had cried silent tears out of anger and her eyes were sore and tired. Her body was strained, taken to its limits, yet she dragged herself further. They had marched for hours and their captors, those creatures wouldn't let them rest a moment. Barefooted she stumbled over roots and stones she could not see, passed huge trees which canope were hidden by the unnatural thick fog. Once or twice they passed black rocks and were shooed up unfriendly hills.  
  
She guessed they were being led to the mountain. Sina tried to remember as many details of her surroundings as possible, in case she found an opportunity to flee. She prayed to the gods the rest of her people had equally wise ideas. She trusted they wouldn't try anything stupid to gain more attention of their captors. Like dogs, guarding a herd of dazed goats, they paced around the mass of injured and broken down people. Everyone of them seemed lost, confused, like she was. The mother had tried hard to remember anything from before her captivity, but all was blurry. All she knew was she had to keep going and make sure Tui and Kaiko were doing alright. Her husband was walking at the tracks end with the other fighters. Shackled in a line like cattle, their feet were in ropes so they could hardly march, and their arms tied to poles along their shoulders. If one did a mistep, he or she would dragg the rest down sharp rocks.  
No escape. 

Sina resisted to look over her shoulder to check on him, for she felt a piercing pair of eyes in her back. Watching her. She knew it was this monstrous creature, supposedly the leader of the pack. Unlike the other monsters, who were just howling and hissing shapes wrapped in shadow, he was human. Just a tall man, painted black with ash and oil, but threatening nontheless. His face was hidden by a splitted mask, the face of a shark, and his shoulders were mantled by a coat of hair. Human hair. Long curls in various shades of black and brown were part of the mask. She kept the spiteful look she had for him short, to not draw any attention. This man wasn't as broad and strong as Tui, more athletic, but she had seen how ruthless he could be. Without remorse he had started to torment the hunters in their fate. He was humiliating them, beating them with their stolen weapons and drinking their misery. As if it wasn't enough torture, he was creaving for eyecontact with Tui, just to make sure the chief was watching closely. 

It was hard to stay on her feet and concentrate of her steps. Sina's head was spinning and her thoughts remained with her family, when her left leg found no ground and she tripped. Thanks to her instincts she managed to wrapp her arms around her son, before her weakened body fell into the dirt. The child got startled either way and started whining. Sina hissed alarmed and tried to shush him up quickly, but the beasts around the track were already moving. The sticky air hissed and shadowy claws started ripping at her arms and hair, hurrying her to stand back up. She kept painful noises behind her jaws. "No! Let Go!", she snarled at the monsters, shielding her son with bare arms and strambling back to her feet. 

Tui rose his head for the first time as he heard his wife's and son's struggles. "Sina!", he called out to her and tore at his shackles so hard, the leather started making cracking noises and cut his skin. Thanks to his own headache coming from his fraktured skull, he managed to ignore the hissing black creature at his ear. It's odsidian blade slicing his flank he could not. Tui flinched under the sudden hot pain, not letting any noise escape his clenged jaw. Under the strained eyes of hundrets, Sina found herself standing but trembling. Surrounded by faceless demons, which lunged their vicious claws at her. _'Behind you!'_    
  
Hairs on her neck stood up and chilled her whole torso. Right as she hurled around, a tall, black shadow seized her arm with force. The monsters shut up, backed away out of fear and silence fell. Only her heavy breathing was to be heard, when she stared up to him. In a fracture she could see cold, human eyes piercing her like prey. Like she was not even alive to him. Warriors like Maui were hardened by life, but managed to keep their balance. The reason why she felt so safe around the Demi-God was twisted by this monster towering above her. If he wanted to tear her apart, right here and now, nothing would stop him. Her heart pounded, like back in the day when she was lost at sea and hurled around by rough waves. This time though she had nothing to hold on. 

He narrowed his predatory eyes and tugged hard at her arm, shaking her to lose balance again. Frightened tears formed in her sight and she held the child close to her chest. The boy franticly threw his head around, but his mother wouldn't let him see what was scaring his mother so. The tall, black warrior aimed at the boy, when a ball of colorful feathers fell on his head. An unnatural growl escaped his throat. The hunter let go of her and stumbled, while throwing both hands in the air. Crying in high-pitched notes and flapping his wings in panic, the rooster tried to get hold on whatever he just landed. Everyone stared at the tall one, while he slapped and groped after the chicken and danced on one spot. Feathers, tiny claws and wings were just everywhere. 

Sina didn't waste any time to gain distance to the hunter and his monsters. She gazed up into the clouds. The last time Sina had seen Heihei was, when Maui had accidently catapulted him over the canope. This lucky, stupid bird had chosen the most suspicious times to show his worth in the past. Saved by a chicken, twice, made her think she was doomed to be labeled as the damsel in distress. Too tired and to smile over her fate, Sina was on guard and dared a worried gaze over her shoulder. Tui crossed eyes with her and he showed the same flush of relieve as she felt. It lifted her mood enough to straighten her back. She was okay. He was okay, except for the cut above his temple. Kaiko was doing fine too and Moana was not among them. Sina hoped she was with Maui. She must've been with him. She had to be! Despite all the things Sina and the others had lived through, she still believed her daughter and Maui would come for them. She only had to hold on long enough and keep playing by unspoken rules.

The leader snarled and panted, when he finally got rid of the short rush of _whatthefuck_ and the chicken. Gawking Heihei flapped away and disappeared into the bushes, leaving a trail of feathers. A couple of monsters rashed He was covered in golden and blue puffs. He found Sina standing back in line and soft giggles reached his ears. Startled the mother leered shortly at her son, who was laughing at the other monster. She could feel the rage boiling up in him and let her hair stand up. In a blink of an eye, indeed she blinked once, he towered before her once more and pierced her eyes leering. "Move.", a raspy voice echoed under animalistic growls from behind the mask, while unseen, tiny hands happily snatched feathers from his belt.  
  
So the track went on. ... 

\---

Heavy rain poured down on her and soaked the earth, making it hard to follow back her tracks. Deep puddles and slippery streams stood in her way, as moldy leafes stuck to her feet. One hand fumbled around the empty spot on her chest and the other was clenched to a tight fist. Her mind was blank except for one dark image haunting her. If she had lost it on the way to his camp, there was no chance to find it in this weather. Moana had no explanation where she might have lost it, other than _there._  Anger formed a ball of ice. She had felt it in her guts the moment she had awoken and still she had listened to Maui. The Demi-God had probably just tried to calm her. On the other hand, how could he have been so sure her people were alright and what she had _dreamed_ of hadn't been real? The nightmare, this foul creature, had seized her necklace in her dream and now it was gone!

This stupid oaf had lured her with his _charm._ Only because of him she had wasted precious time to aid her people! She had known and still had fallen for him. Fallen? Hadn't it been her own decision to stay with him? If it had been because of the strange herbs she had inhaled earlier, or out of desperation and probably desire too, it didn't matter now. She had wanted him and had flipped the table of tradition. Because of this, her lower abdomen had left her in a constant state of remorse and wouldn't stop pulsing. He was still near her, she could still feel his hot breath on her skin. Her heart jumped heavy and she dragged her body further to ease it. Moana hoped she was wrong to follow her bad feelings. She prayed to the mocking, unfriendly skies to find her people unharmed and herself huffing in relieve in the end. She hated looking like a fool, but in this case she gladly would make an exception. 

Once she would have mumbled an awkward excuse why she hadn't been in the camp, she'd tell her parents the truth in private. She was tired of keeping secrets from her family and knew she couldn't hide the bond between her an the legendary Maui from her people anylonger. For all she knew, they probably already smelled what was going on. They all had seen what the shape-shifter had done at her fertility-dance. In public she had rejected the Demi-God, but it didn't mean she could not change her final word. There was still time to set everything right. At this point Moana's pace slowed down and she took a deep breath. Never before had it crackled this intensly between her ears. Marriage. Oh, why had she chosen to rush into this mess instead of taking a step back? The new chapter of her life she had tried to built up carefully seemed so instable, too flawed to withstand any storm. Her mother had said marriage is the root of a new generation. What if her choice would doom the next to come? No. She didn't want to think about these things anymore. Not if there was still time to prepare for them. Moana knew her actions would have consequences and she would deal with them in time. Right now there was just her in the cold rain, the squishy ground between her toes and no sign of the fog.

The young chief growled and continued stomping through the mud. The pattering drops from above made it hard to see and she slipped a few times. Her loud and vulgary curses went under in the sound of rain, everytime she stumbled back to her feet. The settlement, she had to get used to call home yet, must've been right behind the next two lines of trees. Once she'd hear the beloved chatter of her people, she'd finally give her mind some rest. Wind and weather wouldn't let through any comforting noises and the closer the dark roofs emerged out of the distance, the bigger silence grew. Her insides crawled up to a ball and she faught her way out of the jungle. Finally she was back.  
"I made it ... ", she slightly smiled to herself and supported her torso on her knees. Consolation was only short lived though, once she straightened herself and her fresh grin froze. Items were lying around on the paths and infront of the huts. Carpets were ripped down, poles destroyed. Bowles were shattered, spears broken and the smell of dying embers would be washed away soon. 

It all came crashing down on her, like the rain had evolved into a blustering waterfall and transformed her own weight into burden. The young chiefs legs weakened and she almost lost her control over them if the ice running through her veines hadn't made them stiff. Moana didn't think as she pushed herself further with eyes wide open and trembling like death kept breathing in her neck. Fearful she peeked into the huts and did not dare to imagine what to find hidden behind corners. The only things left by her people told her of the horrors they must've lived through. 

Where was her family? Panic startled her from the spot like a mouse and she stumbled towards her hut. An old, harsh fear clawed its way into her chest and tears moistened her eyes. "Mom! Dad?!", she shouted behind the still carpets into empty shadows. No answer came. Items from her daily life lied scattered around and soft tapa covered the ground. She recognized the fabrics pattern of her baby brothers blanket and a small bulge formed by something round. 

"Kaiko!", she cried out and hastily graped what was lying beneath. It was not a little boy, not even alive. The tip of her old oar, signed by no other than the Demi-God, had formed the curvy shape and was - by the gods - broken. Moana pressed her lips shut tight, holding her breath not to choke and carefully wrapped the pieces into her brothers blanket. The bundle pressed to her chest a short beam shone over her shoulder. Alarmed she hurled around, wrapping a sticky coat of hair around her face. The short glimpse of a decent shadow was all she could make out, before small feet hurried away. "H-Hey!", Moana called and stumbled after it on three limbs. While she shook her head like a wet cat to free her face. "Wait!"

"Moana?", peeped a feint voice and the young woman almost wrestled the curtains. The pale face of a stressed out boy appeared. As soon as she crossed eyes with Nohea's, he hurled himself in her arms. "It's you!", the once so cheeky boy cried. "At first I thought you were a ghost, but you're not! Please say you're real!"

" _Sh Sh_ It's okay, Nohea.", she managed to say gently. "Of course I'm real!"  
"Ema said you were maybe dead, but I didn't believe it!", the boy mumbled shakingly.  
" _Hey, hey!_ Nohea!", she held him by the shoulder and bowed to him a little. Even though she couldn't believe it, she spoke words the young one needed to hear.  
"Listen, everything is going to be alright!"  
"Where _were_ you?", he wanted to know.  
" ... I'm here now.", she answered. "Can you tell me what happened?"  
Nohea gazed into her eyes and she swore to see a grey shimmer passing by. His lips were sealed, as he stared to the ground. This was not good at all, but shoved asside by her next question. "Where is everyone?"

Too frightened the distressed boy didn't answer and just took her wrist to guide her away to the shore, where they had hidden their fleet. All but one of these powerful vessles were untouched and imbedded in the black sand. One of the roofed boats floated motionless in the water. "Nohea?", Moana tried to gain his attention, but he only climbed on a small canoe. His silence gave her chills and made her anxious of what he was about to show her. Soft raindrops steamed on the ocean's surface and the chieftess gazed up into the white sky to find no golden spots of the sun. _-Clonk!-_ Her heart skipped a beat when they reached the big canoe. The tapa curtains were darkened by the water and let down. She heard whispers hushing from inside the shelter, when a shy black eye peeked out of sunken sockets. Ema stuck her head out, past the coat of long hair which was completely covering the left side of her face. 

"Moana?", she said tiredly and stirred up excited ruffling from behind her.   
"Ema!", the young woman leaped in her arms, happy and releaved to find her childhood friend alife and seemingly well. Soon many other faces, some beat up and bruised, emerged from the shadows. "Moana!"  
"The chief!"  
"Chief Moana is back!"  
"Thank the gods!"

Many hands and arms surrounded her and snippets of distraurght words reached for her ears. Some were crying, some still shaken from past events and others were pale like dry sandrock. Tears of joy rolled down her face, while she looked around and pain sued her tongue to her gums. Around her were the sad remains of her once headstrong wayfinder crews. Moana remembered those who were left behind on Motunui and knew each name of the twohundret participans. Now only 25 people were left and her family was not here. "So few. ... ", Shock over their loss kicked a huff over her lips. "So few made it ... "

Aoki, the head healer ellboyed her way to her and pulled her close. This hardy woman had helped to bring Moana and most of the children into this world and now one of them had returned to her. Grey hair tickled Moanas nose as the elder held her close in a trembling embrace. "You came back ... I lost hope to see your eyes again."  
Moana parted with her and pressed out a crying chuckle, before drying her eyes. Aoki only had small reason to smile and harsh lines of sorrow formed on her face.  
"Come ... ", the elder woman said and gently moved her into the shelter. The smell of blood thickened the air. Not everyone had been so lucky like those standing. Many were injured and moaning on the ground. Some had their arm in a sling, but most had more or less small cuts. One of her people though stuck out. A tall figure was lying on the ground, the whole head, neck and torso covered in bloodied tapa straps. Onearmed. Moana's heart fell and she let go of the wrapping in her arms. 

"Iida?! _Noo!_ ", she huffed as she fell down next to her friend. The buff chest was raising gently in her sleep and she let out small groans of pain. Her wounds were still fresh and wet, thanks to the cold rain. Large stripes of skin had been ripped off her face by vicious claws and Twitching hands weren't sure where to console her and she threw an agonized look over her shoulder.  
"What happened to her? To you!?"

"We were attacked.", Aoki said and sank down next to her.  
"By whom?", Moana asked.   
The elder shuddered when she forced herself to remember details she rather wanted to forget. Her strained eyes flickered around the beaten down faces and weightened up confronting her people with stories of last nights horrors. Her chieftess had to know though and so she started the tale.   
"Monsters. ... Dark creatures. ... Black skin like ash and claws as white as bone. ... It was like gateways to Lalotei opened everywhere at once. They attacked us out of the fog and dragged most of us into the forest ... "  
Every word lasted heavy on the young woman and she hung her head. Black curls tickled Iidas left arm and she made a tormented noise. Rapidly she tugged her hair back and crossed a short glimpse of her friends bloodied eye. Could she even see her? Through the damaged white Moana spotted a concious mind drowning in pain and she had to cover her mouth.  " _Ohh, Iida ...  I'm so sorry ..._ ", she muffled behind her palm and Iida slowly rested her eye again. " ... You survived the eel's attack. ... You won't die from this. ... ?", she tried to reasure herself.   
  
"She saved us ... ", Ema's gloomy voice overtoned the eerie silence. "When a monster attacked Sina."  
"She killed it.", Nohea threw in over his knees. "With only one hand. ... I saw it."   
"When the sun came up, they all disappeared ... Faded within the fog and were just ... gone.", another said. "Like nothing of it was real. ... Like nothing happened."  
"My son and daughter are gone, my husband killed.", Aoki toned without looking at her chieftess and without blame. " ... They took your mother and brother. ... We don't know where your father is." 

Moana dug her fingers deep into her skirt as every detail hailed down on her like spears. Burning ice roared in her lungs and her head wouldn't stop spinning. This acid like rush she felt while breathing was a loud cry on the other side, but she made no sound _here_. _There_ it roared like thunder. 

At some point the teine was feeling too cold inside to expect the ice around her heart to melt. She didn't even bother to fight it anymore, so why shouldn't she just welcome it? She was chilled to the bone so her pain was nothing more than a pulling humm and strangely made it easy for her to think. The shelter was filled with sobs and tired whispers, as she just kneeled there, staring at Iida. After she had lost her arm and a part of her soul, the huntress had tried to tell her something and reached out to her many times.The day her mother had disappeared, a silvery mist had shown her a caven, the final resting place of Ro'e. Inside she had found noises of water and voices calling out to her. She remembered clear as day, it had been her mother calling out to her.   
  
_"Don't listen to him in the end!"_  
_"You need water and wind to follow the stars."_  
_"Go deep. The well."_  
_"Deep."_  
  
Flashes of her nightmares flickered and she twitched her head, trying to ban them. The eel had ripped Iida's twin-spirit in two and shortly after this being of light had appeared. Since time had no meaning _there_ and accordning to Tala the fog had ripped the veil between the realms apart. Were those messages just meant in a different order? Moanas mind was tense, the expression in her eyes harsh. Suddenly she knew where she had to start.   
"Yes.", she whispered so quiet, it just could've been a sigh. Then the chieftess rose.   
"Where are you going?", Aoki wanted to know and stumbled to her feet, ready to stand in her way.   
"I'm getting them back! You said they've taken our people into the jungle.", Moana answered roughly, while tying her hair into a knot. "That's where I'm going."  
"No! you can't just-!"  
Moana hurled around to the woman and leered at her, startling most whispers shut.  
"Who is chief?", she hissed in her face and found some strange satisfaction in the elders apologizing demeanor. Hesitant she turned to her remaining people, which were feeling like chief Tui would stand before them. "You were wise to seek shelter on the ocean. Ro'e fears it. She'll not follow you here.", she claimed to know and hoped she was right. "I know you have faught hard to get here and you know now what we're facing. If those who can still fight want to aid me, I won't turn away the help."    
Her people looked at each other. Most of them weren't even able to shake their heads and sunk deeper in fear. Only a few had a certain spark in their eyes, but the first who scrambled to his feet to step foreward was a 13-yearold boy.   
"I'll go!"  
"Nohea-", Moana began, but the young one wouldn't hear it.  
"Before you say no, hear me, chief!", he spat howling. "I know I can help! I know what you're up against!"  
"Listen-"  
"I watched them! There were three different kinds! Most of them looked human, but were made of shadow! The one who hurt Iida was more like a beast and had fur! Then only one of them looked almost human! The big monster who took my mom and aunt Sina and the baby! He was fast, but he couldn't catch me! I _know_ I can help you and I won't stand in anyones way! I promise! Let me come!"  
  
The chieftess pierced in his eyes, but found no faltering. He wasn't lying, when he mentioned his quickness. Multiple times he had outmaneuvered his teachers, neighbours, siblings as they had tried to catch him. And he said he could escape the monsters without help, while many others did not? The courage she saw in him reminded her of a young girl, who had ventured over the fast sea to save the world. It did something with her brain, she could not fight and she sighed deeply. True, she needed any help she could get, but to risk a young boys life made her feel uneasy.   
"Nohea, listen!", she took him by the shoulders. "You understand this is not just about getting your family back or to prove your worth, but to face death and free as many of us as possible and _bring them here safely!_ "  
  
_'And to wipe Ro'e from history.'_ , she didn't feel even remorse for thinking like that, but the ice around her heart crackled. After a long moment of watching his mind rattle, he nodded determined. He and the remaining motunuians were not prepared for her sudden decision. Taking a halfbaked brat, who stole fruits, knives and whatsoever on a quest of no return? Moana could've thrown him aswell into the voids of Lalotei for swimming practise. Or was there more to it than meets the eye? Aoki would've protested, if she had been younger and less desperate. She started hustling her grey mane when she thought about loosing another of the children she watched growing up. Another stepped into the gloomy light. It was Ema. "I know what you think. ... But you always complain I'm too tactical. Who do you think really comes up with the most optimal locations for the next buildings? I know how to plan possible outcomes! ... And ... I think I can use this on the battlefield as well!"

Moana nodded shortly and thanked her with a smile.   
"Anyone else?", she said. "... Two more at least. We best move in a small group, so they won't spot us so easily." 

Only short moments in silence passed when two hunters offered their help. The brothers Oku and Hilo. Long old friends of her father. They weren't the youngest anymore, or best, but they had managed to bring as many to safety as they could and were experienced and most capable. Thankful she shared the traditional hongi with all four of them.  
  
"I don't know how far we have to go this time, but I assure you, by our devine ancestors, we will find our way home. Stay put and wait for our return!"   
"When will you come back?", Aoki wanted to know.  
" ... I don't know.", she decided to say the truth. "Keep a scout up each night. We will signal you with torchlight when we come back."

Nobody thought of stopping them when she graped a spear, turned her back on them and beat the tapa asside. The rain had stopped for a moment, but the sky still wouldn't show any sunlight. Planing the next steps, they wasted no time to row back on shore. Her small group of Ema, Nohea, Oku and Hilo accompanying her, Moanas mind was blank when she left the destroyed image of her venture behind. She gritted her teeth and put on a brave mask. If those monsters disappeared with the fog, then she had no choice, but to walk right into it. Moana was aware that Ro'e was probably using her people as bait for her. The teine had stalled this event for too long and was determined to give this witch what she had asked for. A piece of Moana's rage. 

They fastly hobbend on land and Ema suggested to hide the small canoe, in case someone had the idea of burning them while they were gone. She also mentioned to start searching the settlement and gather some supplies. While the older hunters scouted the area around the village, Ema, Nohea and Moana scrambled through the items lying about. The teine persieved the first chance of being alone with her inner turmoil. The water falling had flushed any traces of possible fights away, but she knew some darkened spots left on the wooden floors were blood. Moana tore her gaze away. Just now she let her mind wander to her father. The young womans chest cramped as the ice crawled up her back and she seized her heart, like trying to stop it from beating. When hope is crushed a thousand times and dying, there never was much more to follow. Lost in a grey world Moana stood in the middle of her new home and let the sky cry roaring tears upon her. All her nightmares had come true and even though all her instincts had tried to warn her, she had not listened to them. Only because of her own desire she hadn't been at her family's side. Her father lost, probably dead, her mother and brother in the fangs of a ruthless goddess. 

When she slumbed down at a post, empty huts and silenced nature were the only witnesses of Moanas cries. This cursed island. The treacherous trees. Even the damn rain taunting her with its sympathy. It all lost the brightness for her to see anything else than _his_ gleaming spirit approaching from the skies. As a big shadow flew over her head, a huge feathered creature landed right infront of her. She stopped her tears. Of course he had heard her shock inside and _of course_ he was worried. But Now. He was here now? Why didn't he come with her in the first place? Why didn't he follow her back home? Why hadn't he been with her when she found what was left of her people. Maui was looking down on her with those big, pityful eyes. Usually Moana felt her chest flimmer whenever Maui returned, but now she could not stand the sight of his. It made her furious how he dared to look as shocked as she was. "Curly, I-", he began, but she wouldn't let him speak. She welcomed how the ice inside froze unshed tears and hurled all her pain down on him in ill thoughts. It pierced his mind hard, his temples started to sting and he flinched.    
" **DON'T** you **'curly' me! _"_** , she hurled at him and jumped up, making him back away. " **Nothing but a nightmare?! All is _as it should be?!_** "  
"Moana-", he tried again to reason with her, though his pain she shoved in his face made his mind sore.  
" **No! YOU**   ** _SHUT_** ** _UP!_ "**,her shrill voice echoed against the rain. "Look Around what She did!"    
Maui's eyes flickered only a short time over their surroundings. From above and in this weather he hadn't had the opportunity to check and to be honest, it sadly looked like any other poor village after being raided. Shortly after Moanas fist lunged down on his broad chest. "I KNEW something happened! Why Wouldn't You just Listen to me?!"  
"I didn't-"  
" **DON'T** say you _**didn't know!'**_ _",_ her words hit him harder than any other thing she had ever thrown in his face. "Don't you **_DARE_** lying to me like that **_NOW!_** You knew exactly this was possible, don't you?!", she turned wildy around and punched a post. - _Crack!-_ She felt her wrist crunching, but it only bothered Maui. She couldn't care less. Right now there was blame and hatred taking control over her. The Demi-God had never seen her this intense and felt it from inside his skull. "You **KNEW** something was wrong! I Told you many times! I heard Kaiko crying, saw my people living through horrors. I **TOLD** you But **YOU** didn't care at all, did you!?"   
"Moana please! Listen!", he finally found a pause in her rage to defend himself.   
" _ **NO!**_  I'm not listening to _**ANYTHING**_ you have to say!", she hissed at him. "Everytime I put trust in you, you do everything to make it worse!"  
A diamond cord of patience snapped in him, as her words pierced through him and fury rose in him.   
"What the-?! You're blaming _Me?!_ ", he snapped back and pointed to everything surrounding them.  
" **WHO _Else_** is there?!", she shouted, clenching her fists and feeling a slight sting in her middlehand. It only infuriated her more.  
"Uhm! A dunno? **Ro'e Maybe?!** ", he reminded her in a loud tone.  
"Ro'e and The Fog, the Nightmares, the Ghosts, the Monsters who kidnapped my family and slaughtered my people!  **OUR People!** ", Moana stood straight on tiptoes to hiss her venom in his face. "They took Kaiko and My Mother and many others, while _**You**_ had to dance through day-dreams with me! Only Because **_You_** held me ** _Back!_** "

Maui backed away from her one step. Many things smashed his rocky mind into pebbles and twisted his expression from _hard-like-stone_ to _completely-taken-away_. Moanas sudden blame had burned a hole his rocky walls and one information held his own anger from bursting out. Sina and the poopy-monster, kidnapped by Ro'e? He did not understand why, but it pierced him like a stingray. _Wallflower_ had always put so much trust in him and had not only accepted him as part of her daughters life, but part of her family. If Ro'e had Sina and her little son, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to thank her for her kindness. The thought of losing someone he had never been able to declare his friend openly tied his mouth shut.   
  
Moana saw the hurt expression in his face and knew she had hit a nerve. Even so, she wasn't over scratching his eyes out. Right now her loss was too powerful for her to care if she overstepped a line. With glittering eyes she darted at him. "This is Te Ka all over again! Who has to suffer?! Mankind! And like back then, it's Me who has to clean up your shit!", Moana barked. "So, do whatever you like, for all I care! Aid us or fly away, But if you keep standing in my way and my family is dead - or will die - I never want to see you again!"

The unlikely pair was aware that some awkwardly ogleing souls witnessed her exploding temper, but cared less than they should. Both hunters had been alarmed by their chieftess's shouting and had expected to find an attacker. They looked at each other, already familiar with this kind of racket. Many times they had watched chief Tui and his daughter at each others throats, but never had it gotten out of hand. In this case, they better stayed put and felt only little sympathy for the bird-shaped maori. They also had wondered where the Demi-God's aid had been while they had needed it. And what was that about him stopping their chieftess to get back in time?   
  
" _As you wish?_ ", he hissed.  
  
Torn apart by his soulmate's harsh words, Maui leered through water at her. With great sorrow he had felt her cry on the other side and had hoped to console her in this dark hours. It wasn't like he hadn't wanted to finally face Ro'e and beat the crap out of her. Confronted with this heavy ultimatum of ending what they had, his aching was all he could think about. Maui stared with reflective eyes, as strong wings took him up high, while the last line she spat in his back pierced him once more.

"Running away again!" 

 


End file.
